The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority is temporarily lifting some restrictions for the sanctioned Russian bank’s Swiss subsidiary ahead of its possible sale.
Finma is enabling Sberbank Switzerland to settle claims of non-sanctioned creditors between the 1st to 5th of July after the bank has improved its financial stability and current sanctions allow for the step, it said in a statement Friday.
Repayments to sanctioned persons or to the parent company Sberbank Russia remain prohibited, it added.
The payments will enable the bank to reduce its balance sheet, also with a view to a possible sale or change of ownership, Finma said in the statement, adding that the equal treatment of creditors will remain upheld.
Sberbank (Switzerland), which operates as an indirect subsidiary of the Russian parent company and is not directly affiliated with Sberbank Europe, has recently attracted some interest from potential buyers as finews.com wrote.
