Russia’s VTB Bank loses UK court battle to recover $274 million from local unit

Investing.com -- Russia’s second largest lender VTB Bank has failed in its legal attempt to recover £205 million ($274 million) from its defunct UK arm.

The bank, which was first sanctioned by the UK in 2022, claimed that the government unlawfully changed sanctions-related rules for the administration of VTB’s UK unit earlier this year. VTB’s lawyers argued this change had a "catastrophic" impact by eliminating all its claims for money from the London operation.

Lawyers representing the administrators at Teneo Inc, who now manage the company, and the UK government contested these allegations. Court filings show VTB has a claim to approximately £205 million from VTB Capital Plc, while the administrators valued the Russian bank’s claims at £188 million.

In Friday’s ruling, Judge Rowena Collins Rice stated: "I am unable to find in the decision any element of unlawfulness warranting a court of review intervening in it to set it aside. The bank’s grounds of challenge are not made out, and its claim must be dismissed."

VTB Bank, based in Moscow, was among several financial institutions sanctioned by the UK following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

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