VEDOMOSTI. The Bank of Russia is exploring the option to rehabilitate Baltiyskiy Bank, a large bank in Russia’s Northwest, two sources close to the regulator’s supervisory unit and a banker who took an interest in the lending institution told business daily Vedomosti. So far there has been no CBR’s decision to rescue the bank, but the search of an investor began around three months ago.
The conflict among Baltiyskiy Bank shareholders has lasted for more than a year already. The bank was sought to be sold, but its owners have been unable to agree on the asset’s price, one thinks the lending institution needs to be sold virtually for any price, while another believes the bank costs a lot. This reason impedes the search of an investor for the bank’s rehabilitation, the paper’s interviewees said. Another problem is the imbalanced structure of the bank’s business. The bank drew high-interest retail deposits and invested the money not in the most profitable assets, such as corporate loans and real estate, Stanislav Volkov, head of the lending institution ratings department at Expert RA (the agency stopped rating the bank in June), previously said.
This March the Bank of Russia ruled the lender to limit the acceptance of retail deposits. Baltiyskiy Bank tried to challenge this order, but the court rejected a lawsuit. This June, according to a banker who eyed Baltiyskiy Bank, the bank already faced liquidity problems and delayed some payments. It is unclear whether or not the lender complies with the liquidity ratios as the regulator’s website contains no Form 135 of the bank, which shows relevant figures, Vedomosti wrote.
