Direct exposures of foreign banks to Ukraine are relatively small: as of the third quarter of 2021, foreign banks' claims on Ukrainian residents amounted to $11 billion, according to the Global Financial Stability Report (GFSR Report) of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released on Tuesday.

According to the report, in relation to Russia, which unleashed the war, these risks of foreign banks are higher – $120 billion, 60% of which are in foreign currencies, but in aggregate they appear to be relatively modest.

"The vast majority of these exposures were held by euro area banks," the IMF said.

The IMF said that for some countries, these exposures were economically significant, as individual banks play an active role in the Russian banking system. "Because they operate as subsidiaries, however, they typically fund themselves locally; as a result, intra-group loans are generally small," the IMF added.