MILAN, April 10 (Reuters) - UniCredit said on Friday it had no plans to liquidate its Russian business or return the banking licence held by its local subsidiary, which the Italian lender has held onto during the Ukraine conflict.
"Following some speculative rumours in the media, UniCredit confirms that there has been no change to the strategy we are executing and have consistently communicated to the market regarding Russian operations," a spokesperson for the bank said in an emailed statement.
Russian daily Kommersant reported earlier on Friday that UniCredit was considering liquidating its business in the country and relinquishing its local banking licence.
UniCredit controlled a top-15 Russian bank when Moscow invaded Ukraine in February 2022.
CEO Andrea Orcel has said Italy's second-largest lender will not damage its shareholders by exiting Russia at a loss.
However, faced with European Central Bank demands to cut ties with a sanctioned country, the bank has been shrinking its local presence.
After the Rome government used the Russian presence to hamper an acquisition deal in Italy, UniCredit abandoned a legal challenge against the ECB's requests to exit Russia and has been accelerating the process.
"Our operations in Russia consist of a small and focused franchise, supporting international corporates in processing payments -- particularly in euros and U.S. dollars - and maintaining connections to the Western world," the bank said in Friday's statement.
(Reporting by Valentina Za, editing by Gavin Jones)
