MILAN--Italian bank UniCredit has suspended its operations and
shut down all its 14 branches in the Ukrainian-crisis hit region of
Crimea, according to a statement issued by UniCredit's Ukrainian
unit published on its website Tuesday.
"The bank, which operates under the laws of Ukraine, has no
longer a legal basis for the functioning and providing banking
services in the region," the bank said in the statement.
The closure of the branches doesn't affect its liabilities to
its customers, while at the same time it will continue to service
current, card, deposit accounts and loans in its branches in other
regions of Ukraine, the bank said.
Crimean depositors can withdraw funds from branches in other
regions of Ukraine, it added.
At the beginning of March, escalating tensions over Russian
military intervention in Ukraine started to affect banks in
Crimea.
At the time, UniCredit's unit in Ukraine announced on its
website that it was limiting cash withdrawals from its ATMs to
1,500 hryvnia ($114) per 24 hours. The bank said it was taking the
step "in order to provide all the clients with an access to cash
money" and that the limits would be removed "in the nearest time
with the normalization of the situation."
Around mid-March, when the bank announced its full year results,
Chief Executive Officer Federico Ghizzoni said UniCredit was in
talks to sell its Ukrainian unit.
Write to Giovanni Legorano at giovanni.legorano@wsj.com
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