Reuters
The European Central Bank is poised to order Italy's UniCredit to cut back business with Russia, two people with knowledge of the discussions said, as the regulator exerts pressure to choke off European financial ties with Moscow. The demands on the second-biggest European bank in Russia would be similar to what the supervisor wants from Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), the biggest Western bank in the country, the people said, requesting anonymity because the matter is confidential. On Thursday, Austria's RBI said the ECB will ask the lender to cut lending in Russia as well as payments within a set timeframe.