Credit Agricole Pauses New Russian Deals as War Rages in Ukraine

(Bloomberg) -- Credit Agricole SA has put new business linked to Russia on hold as the war in Ukraine prompted wide sanctions on President Vladimir Putin's government, according to people familiar with the matter.

The French bank has put a pause on providing financing to new business related to Russia, including financing of projects and movements of commodities, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the information is private. The decision comes as lenders are concerned about widening of sanctions, which are already some of the harshest ever imposed.

“In the current context, we are now only dealing with Russian counterparties in exceptional cases, and in response to very specific needs,” the lender's corporate and investment banking unit said in an email on Tuesday.

Penalties agreed by western nations punish Russia's central bank and exclude some of its lenders from the SWIFT messaging system, used for trillions of dollars in transactions. Banks are concerned about the risk of doing business with Russia even in energy markets, which have so far escaped scrutiny.

Societe Generale SA and Credit Suisse Group AG stopped financing the movement of commodities including metals and oil from Russia. Even before the latest round of sanctions, Dutch banking giants ING Groep NV and Rabobank also restricted lending to raw-material deals involving movement of commodities from Russia and Ukraine.

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