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The story
20th century
VTB Bank was founded as Vneshtorgbank in 1990 with the support of the Central Bank of Russia and the Ministry of Finance. It was set up as a limited liability company to service Russia's foreign trade operations and promote Russia's integration into the world economy.
1st decade
In 2004, the bank acquired a majority stake of 85.8% in Guta Bank, which was reorganised into a retail bank, Vneshtorgbank 24 (VTB24). The bank also acquired the Armenian Armsberbank, which was later renamed VTB Armenia. In 2005, the bank acquired 75% plus three shares of the Promstroybank (PSB), which was reorganised as Bank VTB North-West and later became VTB's North-Western Regional Centre, and bought the Ukrainian bank Mriya, which was later merged with VTB Bank (Ukraine).
In 2007, the bank set up a subsidiary in Angola known as VTB África. The bank also took over Slavneftebank in Belarus and later renamed it VTB Belarus. In June, VTB became the first Russian bank to offer an initial public offering (IPO), raising $8 billion in what became the largest international banking IPO at the time.
In 2008, the bank acquired a 51% stake in AF Bank in Azerbaijan from AF Holding International, later renaming it VTB Azerbaijan. In 2010, the bank's board approved the phased acquisition of TransCreditBank from Russian Railways. In 2013, VTB carried out a secondary public offering (SPO) which raised 102.5 billion rubles ($3.3 billion) and diluted the Russian government's share in VTB from 75.5 percent to 60.9 percent. In 2022, VTB Bank extended a 630 billion ruble ($11.06 billion) credit line to be used for the purchase, repair and modernisation of the country's railway infrastructure.
2nd decade
In 2011, VTB invested more than $191 million for shares in the Isle of Man company DST Investment 3 which was roughly than half of the funds in Yuri Milner's DST Global. This led to Milner's large stake in Twitter. Kanton had almost no investment in Twitter. DST Investment 3 also issued shares to Alisher Usmanov's Kanton that were used to support the Kremlin's investment in Facebook.
In November 2012, some bankers expressed concern about VTB's offer to raise capital for the Basel III requirements, which were addressed by selling $1 billion of perpetual Tier 1 bonds. As of April 2025, the $551 million worth of bonds have a call date of 6 June 2025.
On 7 May 2014, VTB transferred most of its DST Investment 3 to Kanton. In 2014, before the Russo-Ukrainian war, VTB Bank was one of the biggest banks in Ukraine. VTB Ukraine went bankrupt in 2018. Since 2014, the bank has been subject to political sanctions (see separate section below).
In 2017, VTB stated that implementing Basel III capital requirements would cost it $233 million annually. At the time, the Russian central bank was "gradually adopting" Basel III for its domestic banking system. In August 2018, it was announced that VTB Bank would acquire a 75% stake in Vozrozhdenie Bank after its previous owners oversaw a "major banking collapse". In September 2018, Kostin requested that the Russian central bank "revise" the Basel III capital requirements, which, by 2019, would amount to over $6 billion in regulatory expenses for his bank. In November 2018, the National Bank of Ukraine declared the Ukrainian subsidiary of VTB Bank insolvent due to its declining liquidity and worsening financial position. In December 2018, it was announced that VTB Bank would be acquiring controlling stakes in Sarovbusinessbank (81.1%) and Zapsibcombank (71.8%).
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3rd decade
In March 2022, VTB, along with other Russian lenders, was delisted from the SWIFT transaction system, as punishment for the Russo-Ukrainian war. In May 2022, soon after the Russo-Ukrainian war and consequent blowback, Kostin looked forward to $52 billion in reduced costs if the Russian authorities relaxed the rules surrounding Basel III, but Nabiullina demurred, while she acknowledged that some banks may require a capital injection as a result.
In March 2023, VTB detailed a $4.7 billion takeover of Otkritie Bank. At the time, VTB was Russia's second biggest bank. The Russian Central Bank in 2017 had bought the private lender to avoid its crash and was the alienator in this transaction. Otkritie was believed to have approximately 500 retail banking locations throughout Russia.
In October 2024, Pyanov was forced to deny plans to repurchase shares from unfriendly non-residents, as this would have impacted VTB's Tier 1 capital ratio, which is required to be maintained under Basel III rules. In early December 2024, VTB said that the savings rate of their private individual clients had reached an all-time low.
In December 2024, VTB said it would hit a record profit of $5.5 billion for the year. Corporate lending was unaffected by the 21% prime rate because "loans to important sectors, such as the military-industrial complex, are still subsidised by the state, resulting in lower actual rates for some borrowers." The retail client was "taking advantage of short-term deposit interest rates reaching 26 per cent."
In January 2025, VTB announced that it would start up a branch in Iran. On 16 April 2025, VTB Bank announced it had absorbed RNKB, which focuses its operations in Occupied Crimea. RNKB had 2 million clients at that date. On 18 April 2025, owing to a change in strategy, VTB Bank called off its acquisition of Zvezda Shipbuilding Complex and said it would divest itself of United Shipbuilding Corporation. VTB would no longer be invested in reviving failed industrial concerns. Kostin cited guidance from the Russian Central Bank. In September 2025, VTB Bank launched a secondary public offering (SPO) of 1.264 billion ordinary shares (24% of that share class) to raise $1.02 billion. This will reduce the Russian government's holding to 50% + 1 and place the remainder into free float.
In September 2026, The US imposes new sanctions on VTB Bank for alleged ties to the Iranian regime.
From Wikipedia’s article on VTB Bank, shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.4