VEDOMOSTI. Kubanbank has offered a merger to banks with capitals below Rub 90 mln, the threshold required by law starting 2010, Vedomosti business daily wrote Monday.
Starting Friday, December 11, Kubanbank has begun to forward to owners of regional banks with capitals below Rub 90 mln letters with a proposal for set up a new merged regional bank, president of the Krasnodar-based bank Roman Dusenko said. The merger could look as follows: if the lender’s capital does not reach Rub 90 mln as of January 1, 2010, it will have before this day to be re-registered as a non-bank lending institution and later on to again launch a procedure to merge with Kubanbank (the lender holds a general license, allowing to provide all kinds of services), Dusenko describes. Alongside this, a new brand and a new name of the merged lender, e.g. Regional Development Bank or Russian Regional Bank, will be worked out, he said.
“Shareholders will gain pro-rata equity stakes in the merged bank and board seats, the banks will continue operations in the region and niches they managed to conquer, executives will retain their positions," Dusenko said. According to him, preliminary negotiations are already under way and at least one to five banks could be picked for the merger. The bigger the bank becomes, the greater chances it has to attract a foreign investor in the near future, Dusenko thinks. This idea was discussed with the Association of Regional Banks of Russia which backed the idea, he added.
“We discussed such idea and on Thursday I spoke about it at a meeting with bankers in Ekaterinburg,“ President of the Association of Regional Banks of Russia Anatoly Aksakov confirmed. Proposals from banks that are eager to take over smaller lenders were already made, he said adding some offers came from fairly large banks and some proposals from lending institutions whose capitals are currently below Rub 180 mln. “Today the problem related to capital boosts to Rub 90 mln has been largely settled, as banks that are willing to remain in business managed to get money from current and new shareholders to upsize their capitals. This proposal is topical with regard to capital hikes to Rub 180 mln in 2012,” Aksakov said. As Dusenko expects, around a hundred more banks, which will also be offered to join the merged bank, will need additional cash injections to lift their capitals to Rub 180 mln by 2012.
