The French lender, believed to be the first major bank to have jettisoned staff in Moscow from its IT networks, has also placed employees in other locations on high alert for cyber threats emanating from Russia, following its invasion of Ukraine.

The move, aimed at protecting the bank from cybercriminals who could use the local network as an access point, also further distances its shrinking Russian operations from the rest of the group.

BNPP raised the alarm in late February after regulators, including the European Central Bank, warned of the threat of retaliatory hacking as Russia seeks to promote economic instability in countries siding with Ukraine. read more

The Kremlin has repeatedly denied the Russian state has anything to do with hacks against other countries but then again it said its war against Ukraine was just a “special operation” and a children’s hospital full of pregnant women was a neo-Nazi military base.

BNPP employs fewer than 500 people in Russia, a fraction of its 190,000-plus global headcount, and has been gradually reducing its presence there, exiting retail banking in 2012 and consumer finance in 2020.