(Reuters) - Russia's biggest lender Sberbank, which has been hit by Western sanctions, is in talks to sell its Kazakh subsidiary to Baiterek, a financial holding company owned by Kazakhstan's government, sources familiar with the talks told Reuters.
After Russia sent troops into Ukraine, the United States imposed sanctions in April on Sberbank, which has more than 110 million customers and holds a third of Russia's total banking assets. The European Union agreed measures this month.
Sberbank's Kazakh subsidiary was until recently the second-biggest bank by assets in the former Soviet republic that has close economic and political ties with Moscow.
Majority state-owned Sberbank provided 150 billion roubles ($2.45 billion) in loans to its Kazakh unit as customers withdrew cash and drained liquidity, after what Russia calls its "special military operation" in Ukraine led to sanctions.
Four financial industry sources said Sberbank expected the buyer of the Kazakh subsidiary to repay those loans, whose value is now much greater than that of the Kazakh unit.
The sources did not disclose value of the deal.
Baiterek, headed by former Citigroup (NYSE:C) executive Kanat Sharlapayev, owns several financial institutions including the Development Bank of Kazakhstan and specialised lenders focused on mortgages, agriculture and small business businesses.
Baiterek will clear the deal with the U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control if it decides to proceed, the sources said.
Baiterek and Sberbank did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Another Russian lender, Alfa Bank, said it had completed the sale of its Kazakh unit in May to Kazakhstan's Bank CenterCredit. It did not give a value for the deal.
($1 = 61.1000 roubles)