Banks Insured against Deposits
Of the three banks that lost their licenses and have taken advantage of their right to be readmitted to the deposit insurance system after a two-year hiatus, only one of them, Mega Bank (formerly known as Diplomat Bank), is receiving deposits from the public. The other two, Bashprombank and DIG Bank, are less successful in that regard.
According to data published on the Central Bank of Russia website, the volume of public deposits at Bashkortostan Industrial Bank (Bashprombank), calculated using Russian accounting standards, fell in the second quarter of this year from 9.026 million rubles to 9.019 million rubles, that is, by 0.08 percent. Thus, the return of the bank’s license to accept new deposits has not reversed the tendency seen since 2005 for deposits to decrease. Bashprombank applied for a new license in 2007, as soon as it was allowed to do so, and received that license in March 2008.
Bashprombank was founded in 1990 by Bashkortostan’s largest industrial enterprises and was among Russia’s top 50 credit organizations throughout the 1990s. In 2000, its financial condition deteriorated and its management was turned over to the Agency for the Restructuring of Credit Organizations, which transferred 49.9 percent of the stock in the bank to the government of Bashkortostan in 2001 and sold the remaining shares to Uralsib in 2002.
Observers say that Bashprombank has not made its new line of services know to potential customers in the four months it has had them. Banks receiving their licenses after a lapse have to work harder to achieve their goals, experts say. Changing the name of the bank is essential. Mega Bank, with the administration of the Yamalo-Nenets Area now among its owners, changed its name immediately and began to offer customers up to 14-percent interest within a week of reopening (July 23 of this year). It is too early to judge its success. DIG Bank, reopened on August 6, has yet to show any activity.
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All the Article in Russian as of Aug. 18, 2008
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