Situation for Austrian Banks in Russia is “Sensitive”

People ♦ Published: April 29, 2014; 19:33 ♦ (Vindobona)

According to the latest statistics, Austrian banks are considerably more engaged in Russia than assumed so far. Debts to domestic financial institutes amount to € 50bn.

In case Russia stopped payments for loans taken out by European banks further rescue packages will become imminent. / Picture: © Vindobona.org

Different figures about the volume of business engagement of Austrian banks were published in the past weeks. The discrepancies are due to the intransparency of the authorities. While the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) in Switzerland, which is considered the “central bank” of all national banks, is supposed to have an overview about international cash flow it has not yet…