UniCredit boss says gifting Russian unit morally wrong
2022.06.14 17:42
FILE PHOTO: The logo of UniCredit bank is on display outside its branch in Moscow, Russia, July 4, 2016. Reuters/Maxim Zmeyev/File Photo
MILAN (Reuters) – Giving up for free the Russian arm of UniCredit would be morally wrong, the Italian bank’s chief executive said on Tuesday.
UniCredit runs Russia’s 14th largest bank and has been studying alternatives including an exit since Russia invaded Ukraine in February.
“Writing it off and gifting it is not consistent with sanctions and is, in our opinion, not morally correct,” CEO Andrea Orcel told a conference on financial education for students.
“We would be gifting something worth 3 billion [euros] for nothing to someone who is probably in a leadership that we have decided to veto.”
