Raiffeisen Bank is urged to report activities in the Russian Federation to the US Sanctions Office.

In an exclusive comment to Reuters, they said a document was received in January from the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) asking them to “clarify the payment business and the related processes supported by Raiffeisen Bank International in light of recent events related to Russia and Ukraine.

The answer should have been given in February, but a source close to the situation reported new data: Raiffeisen’s lawyers agreed to extend the deadline. The report will be formulated in three parts and will be sent in early April, May and June.

The Reuters source also ensures that among the data requested is not only information about the bank’s activities in Russia, Donbass, Ukraine and Syria, but also details about the transactions of certain clients.

The bank at the same time declares that the company fully cooperates with OFAC and emphasizes that the request was of a “general nature” and was not caused by a specific transaction or business.

The representative of the credit institution, which ensures compliance with all sanctions, “trusts that the information provided by OFAC will satisfy your request.”

Raiffeisen is one of the few large banks still operating in the Russian Federation and has not been subject to sanctions, but the request has concerned European financial regulators, who are now awaiting sanctions.

Since February 2022, Raiffeisen has faced repeated criticism for his decision to continue doing business with Moscow.

As Austria’s second largest creditor, Raiffeisen supports a large part of the country’s economy and therefore local authorities are closely monitoring the situation.

The lender’s net income was around 3.8 billion euros last year, thanks in large part to a 2 billion-euro profit from its business in Russia. According to Reuters, the bank’s Russian division placed deposits worth more than 20 billion euros.