Russian subsidiary of Italy's UniCredit cuts back Moscow branches

MOSCOW, June 11 (Reuters) - The Russian subsidiary of Italian bank UniCredit is closing one of its offices in Moscow, leaving only one full-service branch in the Russian capital, the lender said on Thursday.

One of only a handful of Western banks still operating in Russia after the onset of the Ukraine conflict, UniCredit is under pressure from the European Central Bank to accelerate winding down its business in the country. It stopped taking on new corporate clients there last year.

The bank will now retain only one in-person office in Moscow, with the rest of its branches across 13 regions of Russia transitioning to remote customer service operations.

UniCredit declined to comment on the closure of the branch in Moscow.

The lender said last month it had struck a non-binding deal to sell parts of its Russian bank to a "well-established private investor" in the United Arab Emirates and would only retain its payments business in Russia.

The deal is expected to close in the first half of 2027, pending regulatory approval and carving out the bank's assets. UniCredit did not disclose the value of the transaction.

(Reporting by Elena Fabrichnaya; Writing by Lucy Papachristou; Editing by Susan Fenton)