 | | | | The online-only consumer banking division of Russia's VTB in Europe has turned off its phones due to high call volume and is asking customers to email instead, according to a notice on its website on Monday. | | | | | | The Brazilian unit of Citigroup Inc has hired former Itau Unibanco executive Fernando Iunes as banking, capital markets and advisory (BCMA) vice-chairman, the bank said in a statement. | | | | | | Prosus , the Dutch technology investor, said it was writing off its stake in Moscow-headquartered online platform VK Group, which it said was valued on Prosus's books at $700 million. | | | | | | The cost of insuring against a Russian government debt default soared by almost 50% on Monday and premiums on other emerging market countries, junk bonds and swathes of Europe's banks all jumped too as the Ukraine conflict continued to worsen. | | | | | | The wealth management arm of Swiss bank UBS has downgraded euro zone equities to neutral citing the potential for negative economic and earnings growth revisions amid growing uncertainty following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. | | | | | | UBS's direct exposure to Russia made up $634 million of the Swiss bank's total emerging market exposure of $20.9 billion at the end of 2021, the bank said in its annual report. | | | | | | French asset manager Carmignac said on Monday it would not buy Russian securities and would divest from existing assets, following a raft of other fund managers who have made similar announcements following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. | | | | | | Two of the Big Four accounting firms KPMG and PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP (PwC) on Sunday said they will no longer have a member firm in Russia due to the country's invasion of Ukraine. | | | | | | Russian bank VTB is preparing to wind down its European operations after being hit hard by Western sanctions, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. | | | | | | The move by the payments firms could mean more disruption for Russians who are bracing for hardship. | | | | | |
