UPDATE 3-Russia's largest banks halt new loans in Ukraine eyeing political risk | Reuters:
"Russia's second-largest bank VTB has joined Sberbank in saying it would halt new lending in Ukraine, underlining concerns over financial risks due to political turmoil in Kiev.
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich was driven from power over the weekend after months of upheaval sparked by his decision to spurn deals with the European Union and improve ties with Russia. While the country has an interim leader, a new government is yet to be formed.
"It is hard to evaluate the risk at the moment," VTB Chief Executive Andrei Kostin said at a press conference on Wednesday.
While other foreign lenders have cut their Ukraine exposure in the five years since the 2008 collapse of Lehman Brothers - to 20 percent of Ukraine banking sector assets in 2012 from 40 percent in 2008, according to a Raiffeisen Research survey - Russian banks stayed. They now account for 12 percent of the sector..
Russia's President Vladimir Putin said that Russian banks have an estimated $28 billion of exposure to its neighbour, with Gazprombank, Vnesheconombank (VEB), Sberbank and VTB among the main creditors."
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