Alfa Bank: US-sanctioned Russian banking giant expands in China

Battered by Western sanctions, Russia’s largest privately owned bank is expanding its business in the world’s second-largest economy.

Battered by Western sanctions, Russia’s largest privately-owned bank is expanding its business in the world’s second-largest economy. Alfa Bank, controlled by sanctioned Russian oligarch Mikhail Fridman, has launched a website and support service in Chinese for businesses in the country, according to a statement issued earlier this week. The bank would also open branches in Beijing and Shanghai, it added in the statement. That would make the lender the first private Russian bank to open full-service branches in the two major Chinese cities. The move, which was first announced in September, could help Russian clients do business with China “even more efficiently,” it said at the time. CNN has called and emailed the bank for further comment, but hasn’t received any response. “Developing relations with China is one of the most important areas of work for the bank,” the lender had said in a statement in February. The bank is part of Alfa Group, one of Russia’s largest financial and investment conglomerates, which was founded by Fridman. Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the United States and the European Union imposed sanctions on the group and individuals linked to it, as part of their sweeping punitive measures against Moscow over its war effort.