Russian National Commercial Bank was a bank that operated primarily in Crimea. In June 2025, the RNCB was announced to have merged into the VTB bank. The process of merging RNCB with VTB began in June 2024, and from June 12, 2025, VTB bank serviced the former RNCB clients.[2]
The bank took over numerous branches of banks that had withdrawn from Crimea following the 2014Russia's Annexation.[3] While the bank had no branches in operation as of January 2014, it had over 200 branches by 2015,[4] making it the most widespread bank in Crimea.[5]
Originally a subsidiary of VTB, it was acquired by the Crimean government weeks after the peninsula was annexed by Russia. Despite the severing of formal ties with the VTB Group, the bank was considered to operate as a front of VTB Group’s business operations in Crimea. The establishment as a separate entity was seen as a way to circumvent the effects of international sanctions on Russian banks.[6]