VTB bank. It’s a Russian bank. It also exists in Armenia. Russia is a CRS country, Armenia isn’t.
Will a VTB bank in Armenia share info with VTB in Russia if a russian citizen opens an account in VTB Armenia? I mean, any russian citizen who opens such an account. Not necessarily the russians those who live in Russia permanently – tax residents.
My guess is that it would be a violation of Armenian law for VTB Armenia to share information with VTB Russia, as it still has not signed on to CRS. BUT, it HAS signed on to The Convention On Mutual Administrative Asistance In Tax Matters, as of 2020. So if you are a Russian citizen, I’d say give Armenia a pass.
You can expect the bank to give data to investigators.
For example, ANZ Bank Cook Islands gave full account information when request by US Govt, even though the banking secrecy did not technically allow it. The bank provided it anyway.
To the bank, the power of the home countries (Russia, USA, UK, Australia) may prove too influential over the subsidiary business unit in the offshore centre.
HSBC, Standard Chartered, Barclays might play a bit harder.