KOMMERSANT. Russian lending institution BTA Bank decided to change its corporate name in a bid to avoid the negative association with the Kazakh parent bank that was nationalized, the business daily wrote Monday.
As the lending institution’s board chairman Mukhtar Ablyazov said, the bank adopted a decision to change its corporate name, “CBR approved the lender’s new name," he said. From now on BTA Bank is to be named as AMT Bank.
This is not the first rebranding move in the bank’s corporate history. For example, in 1999 the bank was named Astana International Bank, was renamed in Slavinvestbank in 2002 and turned into BTA Bank in June 2008. Another action to change its name the bank attributes to the unwillingness to be no longer associated with Kazakh BTA Bank, the financial standing of which has been deteriorating at a rapid pace. “The bank would like to distance itself from the Kazakh lender that owns a 22% stake in Russia’s BTA Bank and produces no impact on its strategy, as the bank’s remaining shareholders are Russian investors and the bank is registered in the Russian Federation," Ablyazov pointed out.
As of January 1, 2009 BTA Bank ranked 33rd in terms of equity (Rub 14.47 bln) and was in 47th place in terms of net assets (Rub 71.57 bln) among Russian banks. The biggest stake (22.2%) is in the hands of Kazakh lender BTA Bank, while the remaining securities are distributed among Rikas-Finance (19.3%), Delta-Torg (19.77%), Turanalem Capital (18.6%), Delo Leasing Company (9.99%) and AMK-Invest Design & Construction Company (9.99%).
