Banks still with operations in Russia should break their assets down to zero, walk away and be done with it, says Bill Browder, a former Russian investor turned author and critic of the Kremlin.
“Some banks pulled out [of Russia] a long time ago, but a lot of people didn’t and now they’ve been caught with their pants down,” says Mr Browder, CEO and co-founder of Hermitage Capital Management, an emerging markets fund which previously invested in Russia. “The right thing to do is just sell or alternatively stick it in a trust and allow any benefits that accrue to fund victims of the war in Ukraine.”