RIA NOVOSTI. After the merger with the Bank of Moscow on January 1, 2016 VTB Bank, which is presently focused on corporate operations, could add to its balance sheet the Bank of Moscow's retail business in Moscow, while regional consumer lending units would probably go to VTB 24, VTB 24 CEO Mikhail Zadornov said.
"This will be a more intricate scheme. Retail business will mainly be put on the balance sheet of VTB Bank. Retail assets in some regions could end up on our balance sheet. We're busy working out key elements of this scheme," he said.
Zadornov pointed out that VTB Bank would most likely take Moscow-based retail activities of the rehabilitated bank. "Yes, VTB Bank could become partly focused on retail operations and hold retail assets," Zadornov noted.
"Right now the Bank of Moscow, apart from Moscow, operates just in 28 regions of Russia. These are huge assets in Moscow, which account for more than a half of its business, around 140 offices. They will most likely be folded into VTB Bank," Zadornov specified.
"We're forging an entire scheme," he noted.
VTB Bank's strategy calls for taking under one roof banks, which make up VTB Group, with a single brand (VTB) in the course of five or six years. As VTB Bank deputy president and management board chairman Mikhail Oseevsky said in February, VTB Bank would take over the Bank of Moscow as of January 1, 2016.
For the record, VTB Bank launched the Bank of Moscow's rehabilitation in 2011. The Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA) lent Rub 295 bln to the Bank of Moscow at the rate of 0.51% for 10 years. The premature repayment of the loan was set at a 1:1.5 ratio, i.e. for every Rub 1.00 paid back to the Bank of Moscow from the list of the most troubled assets, which are valued at Rub 150 bln, the lender should pay Rub 1.50 to the DIA. In the October — December quarter of 2014 the Central Bank of Russia and the Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA) gave a nod to extend the loan granted to rescue the Bank of Moscow for five years until September 2026.
