The Crimea's Council of Ministers and Sevastopol's government have got 50% of Genbank's charter capital, Crimean leader Sergei Aksenov said, RBC wired quoting Interfax. Regional leaders and the bank's representatives signed an agreement to this effect on Tuesday, RIA Novosti reported.
Aksenov said that each of the authorities would get 25%. "The Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol will bear no costs whatsoever. This is for free for us," the republican leader added. According to him, the regional authorities will use its stake in Genbank's charter capital to develop new banking products, including loans for SMEs, agribusinesses and mortgage lending.
The relevant program should be prepared and presented for public discussion until September 1, 2015. Sevastopol Governor Sergei Menyailo expressed hopes that the equity interest in Genbank's charter capital would make loans more affordable for the peninsula's inhabitants and entrepreneurs. He called mortgage lending as the top priority.
Genbank was one of the first Russian banks that launched operations in Crimea after its annexation to Russia. In terms of the size of the branch network on the peninsula Genbank is inferior only to Russian National Commercial Bank.
The media wired in May that Genbank intended to take over Black Sea Bank for Reconstruction and Development, and command over 50% of the Crimean market. Genbank's first deputy management board chairman Sergei Mokhov said so at a meeting held by the Republic of Crimea's State Council for Economic, Budget and Tax Policies. After the merger a 50% interest in the bank would be on the republic's books, and the other 50% stake as privately held (with no controlling block of shares). "We understand that the equity stake that we're going to give to the government is actually overstated," Mokhov noted. However, the merger will allow the bank to turn into a Top 100 bank in Russia and increase its capitalization to Rub 10 bln with the assistance of the Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA). "If our capital rises, we'll be able to maintain accounts of the treasury office and the regional budget, and roll out mortgage lending," Mokhov said.
