Coop Pank removed from US sanctions list
The US Department of the Treasury has decided to remove Estonian-registered Coop Pank, formerly Krediidipank, from the list of US sanctions on enterprises connected with Russia.
The decision was made on Wednesday, the ministry stated on its web page.
Coop Pank (ie. bank) had been blacklisted in 2016 after US sanctions on enterprises with links with Russia were expanded; the Russian Bank of Moscow (BM) bank was the major shareholder in the former Krediidipank at the time, holding a stake of over 59%, it is reported.
BM Bank itself had already been added to the sanctions list in 2014 following what was seen as Russian aggression in Ukraine.
The cooperative retail trade group Coop Eesti, which operates more than 350 outlets nationwide, acquired the shares of Eesti Krediidipank previously owned by the Russian financial group VTB in February 2017, BM Bank having been finally merged into the VTB group in 2016 after a hostile takeover which dated back to 2011. The bank was rebranded as Coop bank in September 2017.
Editor: Andrew Whyte
Source: BNS
