MOSCOW, March 15 Reuters Italian bank Intesa Sanpaolo39;s Russian subsidiary saw profits more than six times higher in 2022 than the year before, independent audit documents showed, as Western sanctions on Russia39;s banking sector gave foreign lenders an unlikely boost.

Foreign banks have stepped in to take business from Russian lenders who fell under sweeping Western sanctions imposed following Moscow39;s decision to send tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine last February.

Russia39;s banking sector profits slumped around 90 in 2022.

Intesa39;s Russian subsidiary made net profit of 2.02 billion roubles 26.7 million in 2022, up from 317 million roubles in 2021, the documents showed, a 538 rise.

Intesa only serves corporate clients in Russia, where it had staff of around 980 people when the Ukraine conflict broke out.

Austria39;s Raiffeisen Bank International , one of the European banks most exposed to Russia, earned more than half of its profit last year from Russia. It is considering exiting the market though and has been studying its options.

The bulk of Intesa39;s initial 5.1 billion euro exposure to Russian and Ukrainian customers was crossborder, meaning loans granted by the bank39;s domestic business, mainly to oil and gas firms.

Italy39;s biggest bank booked 1.4 billion euros in provisions last year against its Russian assets, as it reduced them to account for just 0.3 of its total client assets.

UniCredit, which has retail operations in Russia and has…