(Bloomberg) -- Raiffeisen Bank International AG fell after disclosing that the US is probing its payment business in Russia, which the Austrian lender continues to run a year after Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Vienna-based lender said late Friday the US Office of Foreign Assets Control had sought information on the business. Raiffeisen slumped as much as 8.6% Monday, as the probe adds pressure on the Austrian lender to find a solution for its most profitable subsidiary.

The unit produced more than half of Raiffeisen’s record pretax profit last year, in part by providing foreign-currency services in a market others have abandoned. Unlike rivals that have taken steep writedowns to exit the country or cut back business there, Raiffeisen’s strategic review, announced last year, has yet to produce palpable results.

The questions “are of general nature seeking to clarify payments business and related processes maintained by RBI in light of the recent developments related to Russia and Ukraine,” the bank said in a statement late Friday. “RBI maintains policies and procedures that ensure compliance with all applicable embargoes and financial sanctions.”

Raiffeisen’s Russia Dilemma Writ Large After Returns of 76%

Raiffeisen’s shares fell 7.5% at 1:47 p.m. in Vienna, the worst performer in a Bloomberg index of European lenders. Analysts at Exane BNP cut their recommendation for the stock to neutral from outperform.

Raiffeisen has said before it’s considering all options, including a carefully managed exit from Russia. But buyers for Russian assets are hard to come by and it would have to accept a steep discount. The unit had a book value of less than €1 billion at the end of 2022, Chief Executive Officer Johann Strobl has said. 

“When we announced our assessment, we expected this process to take time,” Strobl told reporters earlier this month. “In carrying it out, we operate in a previously unknown, complex market environment.” 

For now, the bank has been in waiting mode, accumulating profits at the unit but also adjusting some management targets to reflect the limitations on capital movement. It cut its Russian loan book by 30% last year. International sanctions and Russian regulation mean it cannot transfer dividends from the subsidiary to the head office in Vienna. 

Peers with large Russian operations have been quicker to react. Societe Generale SA sold its subsidiary shortly after the war erupted last year, accepting a hit of more than €3 billion. 

Italy’s UniCredit SpA booked almost €2 billion in charges related to the business but held off on a full-scale departure, instead reducing the size of the operations. UniCredit hasn’t received a request for information from the US, a spokesman said Monday.

--With assistance from Sonia Sirletti.

(Adds background from second paragraph, UniCredit comment in last.)

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