Russia’s VTB Bank Sees Lending Income Collapse Amid War Pressure

Russia’s second largest bank, VTB Bank PJSC, is seeing a sustained deterioration in profits made from lending, feeding concern at the bank over its stability amid the economic pressures from President Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine.

VTB’s net interest income slumped 49% to 146.8 billion rubles ($1.9 billion) in the six months to June from a year earlier, according to a July 31 results presentation, the latest decline for its core credit operation.

A VTB Bank PJSC branch inside the GUM luxury department store in Moscow.

Photographer: Bloomberg

Such a drop is rare among comparable lenders worldwide, and senior managers at the bank are signaling privately that the data don’t ...