Citi has recently received internal approval to move forward with the sale of AO Citibank, the entity that oversees Citi’s remaining business operations in Russia, to Renaissance Capital (RenCap). This approval signifies a significant step towards the anticipated signing and completion of the transaction in the first half of 2026, pending regulatory clearance and other necessary conditions.
Following this development, Citi has announced that it will classify its Russian business as “held for sale” starting from the fourth quarter of 2025. As a result of this accounting treatment, the company expects to incur a pre-tax loss on the sale amounting to approximately $1.2 billion ($1.1 billion after-tax) for the fourth quarter of 2025, primarily due to currency translation adjustment (CTA) losses. These CTA losses will be reflected in Accumulated Other Comprehensive Income (AOCI) until the transaction is finalized. It is anticipated that the overall impact of CTA, both during the loss on sale period and at closing, will be capital neutral to Citi’s Common Equity Tier 1 (CET1) Capital.
The sale of Citibank’s remaining Russian operations to RenCap was authorized by Russian President Vladimir Putin through a presidential decree issued in November 2025. Citibank has been a prominent foreign-owned bank operating in Russia, providing services to major US companies with operations in the country.
In August 2022, Citigroup had announced its intentions to wind down its consumer and commercial banking activities in Russia. Discussions were reportedly held with entities like Expobank and Reso-Garantia, an insurance provider, during that time. Currently, only a few Western banks, such as Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank, Italy’s UniCredit, and Hungary’s OTP, continue to conduct business in Russia.
In a separate development, in December 2024, Citigroup initiated the rollout of new artificial intelligence (AI) tools to its global workforce, offering around 140,000 employees access to these innovative technologies. In a memo sent out by Citigroup’s head of technology and business enablement, Tim Ryan, the capabilities of these tools, including Citi Assist and Citi Stylus, were outlined.
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