Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) has pushed back the deadline for a possible spin-off of Russian assets to the end of December 2023, Interfax reported citing an analyst conference call of the group's CEO Johann Strobl.

"On our last call we indicated 30 September as the earliest possible spin-off date, and as of today this seems unlikely," Strobl said as cited by Interfax, while reiterating that “ RBI is still considering selling assets in Russia”.

As covered in detail by bne IntelliNews, RBI came under heavy regulatory pressure to come up with an exit plan from Russia, the country where it made 60% of its net profit last year.

The net profit of the Russian business of RBI in 1H23 grew by 8.8% year on year and 28% quarter on quarter to €685mn and pre-tax profit rose by 9.6% to €867mn, according to the bank’s report. RBI's net interest income in Russia for the half year amounted to €698mn. 

RBI has scaled down its Russian business and is reportedly considering the sale of the business as a whole, or the splitting off of the Russian business into a separate entity, as well as a controversial swap of its loans for those of Russia’s Sberbank that are trapped in Europe by sanctions.

But most recent reports suggested that in reality RBI is delaying plans to leave Russia, hoping that the full-scale military invasion of Ukraine will end before the bank will have to cave in to sanctions pressure and scrap its presence in the country.

“Russian authorities made it clear to RBI that they wish it to stay because it enables international payments,” sources told Reuters back in July.