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Serbia and is among the smallest banks in the market. According to VTB Banka a.d. Beograd, the takeover transaction was done with the full consent of the Serbian central bank-National Bank of Serbia (NBS).
Non-state pension funds (NPFs) controlled by Russian billionaire Boris Mints are suing Promsvyazcapital controlled by embattled banker Dimitri Ananyev for RUB3.9bn ($63mn), Vedomosti daily reported on July 30 citing court materials. Reportedly the claimants are NPFs Budushee, Telecom-Soyuz, Obrazovanie and Socialnoye Razvitie, but the nature of the claims against former owners of bailed Russian PromSvyazBank (PSB) was not disclosed. In 2017 the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) took over one of the largest Russia's private banks PSB controlled by Dimitri and Alexei Ananyev, and ordered the Ananyevs to bring their controlling stakes in another bank Vozrozhdenie to below 10% . In July Ananyevs had $15.6mn and €11mn worth of assets arrested by the High Court of Justice in London in the case initiated by wealthy PSB clients that invested in securities issued by the bank. The management company Promsvyazcapital is currently being liquidated. Mints was one of the shareholders in PSB and has his businesses suffering from banking assets contagion , risking losing over RUB20bn in assets after the CBR takeover of PSB and Financial Corporation Otkritie last autumn.
Russian insurer VSK could sell its subsidiary insurance company Interi to Safmar Financial Investments (SFI) for RUB2bn ($32mn), Kommersant daily reported on July 25. In 2017 SFI sold Interi to VSK for the same amount, but now the insurer is scrapping cash to weather the losses caused by the collapse of real estate developer Urban Group, the daily writes. Safmar Financial Investments united the financial non-banking assets of Russian billionaire Mikhail Gutseriev. Apart from a 49% stake in VSK itself, it also owns Evroplan leasing company, and two non-state pension funds Safmar and Doverie. "This [the sale of Interi back to VSK] is a temporary measure needed to be able to quickly transfer funds from SFI to VSK to [cover] potential losses on Urban Group," an unnamed source told Kommersant . Previously Fitch Ratings placed VSK on Rating Watch Negative as the insurer had to reserve RUB9.7bn on premiums underwritten to Urban Group, one of the largest real estate developers in Moscow owned by Alexander Dolgin, that collapsed in spring 2018. Safmar has recently made headlines due to the mega-merger of its electronics retail assets , and the consolidation of oil assets .
8.2 Central Bank policy rate
The board of the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) resolved to keep the key interest rate unchanged at 7.25% its meeting on July 27 , which was in line with broad market expectations. This is the third meeting in a row that the regulator keeps the interest rate flat.
All of the analysts surveyed by Reuters expected the CBR to keep the rate on hold. Renaissance Capital said that the flat rate decision on Friday was "the easiest decision to forecast [the key interest rate] during the past few years."
Previously the CBR gave clear signals that the monetary easing cycle will remain on hold into 2019, as the regulator is cautious and waits out to see the inflationary effects of the recently adopted VAT hike to 20%.
Prior to that the rate-cutting cycle that the CBR started at the beginning of
46 RUSSIA Country Report August 2018 www.intellinews.com