DN Bank ditches Russian market

The biggest bank in Norway and one of the biggest financial institutes in the Northern countries announced it will retire from the Russian Market. The move was not associated with the crisis in Ukraine and Russian's involvement.

DN Bank officials said this is part of a strategic repositioning. Recently, the bank sold five banking units owned in Russia. Asokerco Trading bought all assets from DN Bank. Almost 200 employees working for the Norwegian Bank were also included in the deal.

Although lots of other financial entities retired from Russian because of the crisis in Ukraine, Norwegian officials said the move has nothing to do with this. “The relocating process began last year and it has nothing to do with the recent political events,” said DN Bank spokesman Thomas Midteide to AFP.

Russia is the second country DN Bank retires from after Poland. The Norwegian bank sold its assets in Poland last year as part of the same strategic repositioning in the area. DNB is regarded as the largest financial institution in the Nordic countries. It is also the leading shipping banks in the world. DN Bank ASA, a subsidiary and part of the DNB Group reported total assets of more than 310 million us dollars last year.