VIENNA, March 15. /TASS/. Austria-based Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) is studying the option of conducting a direct swap with Sberbank of RBI’s Russian subsidiary, Raiffeisenbank, for the assets of Sberbank Europe, the Der Standard newspaper said on Wednesday.

According to the news outlet, Raiffeisen executives headed by CEO Johan Strobl developed a plan titled the "Red Bird Project." It calls for transferring the title of ownership to RBI assets to Sber, while the Austrian group would in turn obtain Sberbank Europe’s assets. The proposed transaction is characterized as a form of "concealed barter." The fact that Sberbank is blocked by EU sanctions from directly receiving profits from the disposal of its European assets, and that RBI is prevented from making use of dividends paid out by its subsidiary due to Russian restrictions on cross-border currency transfers are named as the primary drivers for executing the deal.

The Austrian banking group downplayed the probability of the asset swap with Sberbank, terming it just "a theoretical consideration." Raiffeisen underscored its compliance with the sanctions regime and noted that it intends to seek prior approval for any such transaction from the Austrian authorities.

The Austrian financial regulator revoked Sberbank Europe’s banking license in December 2022. As the Russian banking group is under EU sanctions, the consent of the National Bank of Austria would be required to carry out the deal.