austrian banking group raiffeisen one of the last major western lenders in russia said thursday it was considering a sale or spinoff of its subsidiary in the country the rbi group which owns the bank has been under scrutiny over its links to russia since moscow invaded ukraine in february last year ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky has singled out raiffeisenbank for criticism while the us treasury departments office of foreign assets control requested information about its business in russia in january the rbi group said thursday it was looking into potential transactions which would result in the sale or spinoff of raiffeisenbank russia and deconsolidation of raiffeisenbank russia from the rbi group it added that it was committing to further reducing business activity in russia the bank warned the decision would lead to a decline in income generated by raiffeisenbank russia and impact rbis customers the rbi group and its stakeholders are in an unprecedented situation and we recognise the urgency for action which the war has created the bank said raiffeisenbank will maintain some banking operations in russia where it employs more than 9000 people to meet the conditions of its banking license and support customers