RIA NOVOSTI. Probusinessbank, a Top 100 lending institution, is the most likely contender to pick up a controlling interest in Ekaterinburg-based Bank24.ru, one of the largest banks in the region, a source familiar with the course of negotiations told the news agency. “A relevant agreement could be signed as early as this week” — the same source said.
Panic that sparked among Sverdlovsk region depositors in the middle of October prompted people to take back their deposits en mass. Most of all, this panic hit Urals Bank for Reconstruction and Development, Severnaya Kazna and Bank24.ru.
Facing liquidity problems, last week the latter suspended external payments until it finds an investor. The suspension covers both tax payments and private deposit withdrawals, and households were offered to compile applications to take deposits back only next March.
This November Bank24.ru applied to the Central Bank of Russia and the Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA) seeking financial support to restore payments to households and corporate clients.
The Sverdlovsk region received Rub 11 bln from federal banks to buoy the regional banking system. However, Bank24.ru board chairman Boris Dyakonov said at an online conference November 25 that “not a single kopeck” reached the bank. According to him, the support mechanism was designed in the manner so that resources are provided, first and foremost, to large banks that will, then, lend smaller ones. Dyakonov pointed out that before this the lending institution made use of “standard mechanisms” of refinancing that CBR offered. Specifically, Bank24.ru had Rub 1 bln under securities collateralized.
Bank24.ru has operated on the financial services market of the Sverdlovsk region since 1992. The lending institution’s executive board chairman Sergey Lapshin owns 59.47% of the bank.
Probusinessbank, incorporated in 1993, is a parent company of banking group Life that consists of the leading banks in the Sverdlovsk (VUZ-Bank), Saratov (Express-Volga) and Ivanovo (Ivanovo Regional Bank) regions. Its major shareholders are a number of manufacturers from Moscow, including Fili-Krovlia, Enterprise of Trade and Industrial Machinery, Sibinvestnafta, insurer Vesta and Probusiness-Holding. No shareholder owns a stake exceeding 20%.
If the deal goes through, Probusinessbank will gain control over the second bank already that needs rehabilitation. For the record, in mid-November DIA and the lending institution signed an agreement on the financial rehabilitation of Gazenergobank, the largest lender in the Kaluga region. Probusinessbank and four individuals bought more than 90% of its securities.
