Page 16 - bne monthly magazine June 2024 Russian Despair Index

16 I Companies & Markets bne June 2024
India, Pakistan and Iran have small centrifuge enrichment capabilities, but do not sell SWU commercially or export to the global market.
Areva (now Orano) was planning to build the $2bn, 3.3mn SWU/yr Eagle Rock plant at Idaho Falls, USA. In 2009 it applied for doubling in capacity to 6.6mn SWU/yr. It is now cancelled, and in 2018 Orano requested the NRC to terminate the licence.
USEC (now Centrus) was building its American Centrifuge Plant in Piketon, Ohio, on the same Portsmouth site where the DOE's experimental plant operated in the 1980s as the culmination of a major R&D programme. Operation from 2012 was envisaged, at a cost of $3.5bn then estimated. It was designed to have an initial annual capacity of 3.8mn SWU.
Authorization for enrichment up to 10% was sought – most enrichment plants operate up to 5% U-235 product, which
is becoming a serious constraint as reactor fuel burnup increases. A demonstration cascade started up in September 2007 with about 20 prototype machines, and a lead cascade of commercial centrifuges started operation in March 2010. These are very large machines, 13 m tall, each with about 350 SWU/yr capacity and requiring regular maintenance. The whole project was largely halted in July 2009 pending further finance, although a demonstration cascade became operational in October 2013. It was licensed for 7mn SWU/yr enrichment up to 10% U-235, but operation ceased
in February 2016. In mid-2021 it was licensed to produce HALEU up to 20% and Centrus is currently deploying
a cascade of AC100M centrifuges at the American Centrifuge Plant.
European banks still in Russia see profits quadruple, pay over €800mn in taxes
bne IntelliNews
Western banks that have continued operations in Russia paid more than €800mn in taxes last year, marking a fourfold increase from pre-war levels, despite pledges to reduce their exposure following the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, the Financial Times reported on April 29.
The Financial Times' analysis revealed that the seven largest European banks in Russia – Raiffeisen Bank International, UniCredit, ING, Commerzbank, Deutsche Bank, Intesa Sanpaolo and OTP – collectively reported profits exceeding €3bn in 2023.
The significant tax contributions from these banks account for about 0.4% of all Russia’s expected non-energy budget revenues for 2024 and help sustain the Kremlin's efforts to finance the war in Ukraine. Over half of the tax payments were paid by Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), which is the biggest of the foreign banks in Russia and has been reluctant to leave, despite repeated promises to wind its Russian business down. The bank complains that it has been unable to find a buyer for its business.
RBI's profits in Russia surged to €1.8bn from 2021 to 2023, representing half of the Austrian group's total profit. RBI was an early entrant to the Russian market and pioneered trade finance deals after Russia began to emerge from the chaos caused by the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991. Subsequently it built up a major western style retail banking business catering to the emerging middle class in the boom years in the noughties.
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Its recent gains are primarily attributed to heightened interest rates and the constraints international sanctions have imposed on Russian banks, enhancing the competitiveness
of Western banks within the country.
"RBI’s Russian profits more than tripled to €1.8bn between 2021 and 2023, accounting for half of the Austrian group’s total profit," the FT reported. Additionally, RBI also paid €47mn due to a windfall levy imposed by the Kremlin on certain companies last year.
RBI has faced criticism from the European Central Bank and the US Treasury Department for its failure to withdraw, and more recently has been threatened with punitive action if no progress is made. Although the bank has reduced its loan book in Russia by 56% since early 2022, recent job postings indicate plans for significant expansion of its client base in the region.
Other German and Hungarian banks such as Deutsche Bank, Commerzbank and OTP have substantially reduced their presence in Russia. Italy’s Intesa is nearing a complete exit, though it has not yet finalised the sale of its Russian business and UniCredit has opted not to comment on its operations.
US banks also remain financially active in Russia. Citigroup, despite shutting down its corporate and retail business, became the fourth-largest taxpayer among Western banks in Russia, earning $149mn and paying $53mn in taxes in 2023, according to data from the Kyiv School of Economics based on figures from the Russian central bank. JPMorgan, meanwhile,