The London-based subsidiary of VTB Bank has been under pressure from the Bank of England, and the pressure has more political reasons than just the regulator’s requirements, VTB Bank president and management board chairman Andrei Kostin said in an interview with Izvestia.
“In the past few weeks we’ve faced quite heavy pressure on the part of the Bank of England with regard to VTB Capital plc, which we operate in London. This is the only fully licensed Russian bank. Actions are being taken to apply demands which are inconsistent with regular supervision practice to the bank. We asked the Bank of Russia to provide assistance in negotiations with the Bank of England as we see these demands are at odds with the professional approach. It seems to me that they contain more political reasons. All tests were conducted, it was established that the bank is reliable, stable and causes no problems in the UK financial sector," Kostin noted, hoping VTB Bank would manage to defend its position and prove that “actions of this kind against the Russian bank which operates in Great Britain are not quite consistent with international supervisory practice”.
