UniCredit is still awaiting a court decision over whether it must immediately reduce its Russia business to comply with a European Central Bank order, months after filing an objection, people familiar with the situation told Reuters.

The near four-month wait for a decision increases pressure on the lender to show it is complying with the ECB’s requests, whose deadlines have already passed.

The ECB, the lender’s chief supervisor, instructed UniCredit at the end of April to scale down its business in Russia including imposing a ban on new deposits and restrictions on handling payments.

In June, the Milan-based bank asked the European Union General Court to annul the demands, which Chief Executive Officer Andrea Orcel has said could breach Russian laws.

UniCredit has also sought to have the measure suspended while the court proceeding is pending, and in July said, that a decision on a suspension was expected “in the coming months.”

Representatives for UniCredit, ECB and the European court declined to comment for this article.

UniCredit has said it “will continue to act on its commitment to significantly reduce its presence in Russia” and in July reiterated its 2025 targets to scale down its business there.

According to a summary of the court case which has not been previously reported, UniCredit asked the judge to annul all of the ECB’s demands or, alternatively, the orders regarding loans, deposits and payments.

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The ECB prohibited UniCredit from granting new loans or rolling over existing loans and imposed a ban on taking new term deposits from June 1, according to the court filings.

UniCredit is also contesting the ECB request to impose restrictions on payments with Russian clients in certain foreign currencies as of Sept. 1, with the exception of “whitelisted” clients.

Reuters could not establish which white list the ECB is referring to and whether UniCredit has complied with the ECB requests.

From Reuters by Stefania Spezzati –> Full article and more