MOSCOW (Reuters) – Sanctioned Russian digital lender Tinkoff Bank said on Thursday its mobile applications had been deleted from Apple’s App Store, following the imposition of European Union sanctions last week.
Tinkoff, owned by TCS Group Holding, was included in the EU’s tenth package of sanctions against Russia outlined last week as the latest punishment for Moscow’s military campaign in Russia.
Tinkoff was forced to suspend trading in euros following the sanctions on Monday, and has now had its app removed from the App Store, it said.
In a statement, Tinkoff told its customers to “keep calm” and that those who had already installed the app would continue to have full functionality.
“Already installed apps will work as usual, you can still transfer money, top up your account and perform other operations,” it said.
Tinkoff’s brokerage app, used by millions of Russian retail investors, had also been deleted from the App store.
Other major Russian lenders who were previously sanctioned by the EU or United States also saw their apps deleted from the Apple and Google platforms shortly after sanctions were introduced.
As a branch-less digital-only bank, Tinkoff has millions of clients rely on its online services for their daily banking needs.
Founded as a specialist credit card provider by entrepreneur Oleg Tinkov, now an outspoken critic of President Vladimir Putin, Tinkoff has grown rapidly over the last decade and is listed as one of the central bank’s 13 systemically important financial institutions in Russia.
Russian state media also reported on Thursday that a number of smaller lenders who were sanctioned by the EU had their apps deleted from online stores on Thursday.
Tinkoff said it was working on a solution to allow users to download their app again in the future.
(Reporting by Jake Cordell and Alexander Marrow; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
