East-West United Bank (French: Banque Unie Est-Ouest) is a bank based in Luxembourg, established on 12 June 1974 by the Gosbank, the Soviet Union's central bank.^[1] It has been fully owned by Russia-based Sistema since 2018.^[2] The bank offered private banking^[3] and corporate financing.^[4] Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 the bank has had to surmount many problems. Unable to sell the business, Sistema took the decision in late 2023 to close the bank.

The East-West United Bank was founded on 12 June 1974 by the Gosbank and Vneshtorgbank, with the support of Luxembourg Prime Minister Pierre Werner.^{[lower-alpha 1]} The shareholding structure associating Gosbank and VTB lasted until 1992.^[6][7][8]

From 1992 to 2000, Imperial Bank had a major stake in EWUB of 49%^[6][7][8] and Tokobank,^{[lower-alpha 2]} which collapsed after the 1998 Russian financial crisis began on 17 August 1998, held a 28% stake in EWUB in 1998,^[11][12] but, on 17 April 2000, Imperial Bank was dissolved.^[13] Imperial Bank focused on oil and natural gas supplies to East Germany and later to Germany including the oil-for-pipes program.^{[14][15][lower-alpha 3]}

When VTB had a major stake in EWUB from 2000 to 2007, EWUB was one of the five foreign banks of Russia's VTB banking network.^{[6][7][8][16][17][lower-alpha 4]}

Beginning in 2001, the Vladimir Yevtushenkov led Sistema gained a stake in EWUB.^[16] Through Sistema's subsidiary Moscow Bank for Reconstruction and Development (MDRB) (Russian: Московский банк реконструкции и развития «МБРР»), which was established in 1993 with Sistema as a shareholder since 1994, Sistema controlled a 49% stake in East-West United Bank (EWUB) in February 2005 and, since 2007 Sistema has had the majority stake in EWUB.^{[6][7][8][17]}

In 2018, Sistema became 100% owner of EWUB with Sergei Pchelintsev (Russian: Сергей Алексеевич Пчелинцев) as the CEO.^{[22][23][24][25][26]}

According to a declaration given on 18 October 2018 in Spanish court by Sergey Dozhdev (Russian: Сергей Дождев), Igor Sechin uses his offshore companies to control Sistema through MTS and Bashneft.^{[27][28][29][lower-alpha 5]}

In 2020, EWUB had €677 million in assets.^[1]

On 27 June 2020, Etienne Schneider became an independent director of Sistema and his close political friend Jeannot Krecké was a director at Sistema beginning in May 2012.^[30][16] In March 2022, Krecké at Sistema and Schneider at EWUB resigned from their positions on their respective boards after public pressure resulting from the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.^[31][32]

The Luxembourg bank was put up for sale once Sistema made the decision in October 2022, considered solvent with 10.7 billion rubles of assets and 4.8 billion rubles of liabilities. Bank assets were sold through 2023 creating liquidity however by the end of the year, it was decided to close the bank, with professional parties being given an exemption from sanctions to undertake a swift close down.^[33]

The EWUB is headquartered at Villa Foch, a historic property on 10, Boulevard Joseph II in Luxembourg. The villa was erected in 1891 for Alsatian businessman Jean-Henri Thierry and his wife Catherine Rückert on a design by architect Charles Mullendorff [nl]. In the final stages of World War I, it was used by Supreme Allied Commander Ferdinand Foch for his headquarters, from which it retains its name. The EWUB acquired it in 1976 and moved in the next year after renovation.^[40] It was renovated again in 2010-2012.^[6] The EWUB also maintains an office in a nearby building at 26, avenue Monterey.

• Vladimir Malinin, Director 1977-1984^{[41][42][lower-alpha 6]}
• Sergey Valentinovich Pavlov (Russian: Сергей Валентинович Павлов; born 21 January 1960), CEO 1990-2013 and the son of Valentin Pavlov^{[43][44][45][46][lower-alpha 7]}
• Svetlana Fedotova (Russian: Светлана Федотова; born 1972 or 1973), CEO April 2013-September 2015^[45][48][49]
• Sergey Alexeevich Pchelintsev (Russian: Сергей Алексеевич Пчелинцев), CEO 2015-2021^{[40][50][51][52]}

• official site