Report: VTB awaits US decision on sanctions, no loans to Deripaska

MOSCOW, May 23 (PRIME) -- Russia’s second biggest lender VTB Bank is waiting for a final decision of the U.S. Department of Treasury on sanctions against Russian companies and does not provide new loans to companies of Oleg Deripaska hit by the sanctions, CEO Andrei Kostin said in an interview with CNBC television channel on Wednesday.

“Of course we give no new money (to Deripaska), we have no operations with him,” he said.

“As to RUSAL and others, we are waiting for a decision of the OFAC (Office of Foreign Assets Control of the Department of the Treasury), but we hope that the problem will be solved as we are an important lender for them and we also need to return our money,” he said.

Kostin also said that the recent U.S. sanctions influence VTB in a certain degree as the bank’s business with companies included in the sanctions lists accounts for around 2% of its assets.

On April 6, the U.S. imposed sanctions against 38 Russian tycoons, officials and companies including aluminum giant RUSAL and industrial company En+ Group controlled by Deripaska.

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