LONDON/FRANKFURT -The U.S. Treasury has warned Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International that its access to the U.S. financial system could be restricted because of its Russian dealings, according to a person who has seen a letter detailing the threat.
RBI's reluctance to pull back has increasingly frustrated U.S. officials aware that their sanctions have not been as effective as hoped. Sanctions enforcement agency OFAC launched an inquiry into RBI at the start of 2023.To unlock funds frozen in Russia, RBI had planned to buy a stake in construction group Strabag from a company the Vienna-based group identified as being controlled by Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska.After repeated U.S.
Russian authorities last year made it clear to RBI, which has around 4 million local account holders and 10,000 staff, that they wish it to stay because it enables international payments, one source previously told Reuters. The dollar is the cornerstone of international finance and the United States is the world's most powerful regulator chiefly because it can end a bank's access to the currency.