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borrowers. On the asset side, the stock of stage 3 loans went up by 50bp to 15.2% of the gross portfolio, where the bank-defined NPL ratio stood at 7.6% featuring a 102% coverage by provisions. According to the financial statement, after the reporting date problem loans worth RUB 60.7 bn (metals and mining sector) were restructured or sold, thus resulting in a pro-forma NPL ratio of 7.0%. On the funding side, VTB reported a net inflow of customer deposits (+5% qtd), which supported a further decline of the L/D ratio to 96% (the first quarter of 2018: 99%). Referring to local GAAP accounts, about 17% of total corporate placings were attributed to MinFin deposits. Post the dividend payment for 2017 (RUB 74.2 bn), as of the first half of 2018 VTB’s consolidated Tier 1 ratio (Basel I) stood at 12.2% (the first quarter of 2018: 12.7%). On a separate note, the management confirmed the bank’s involvement into certain M&A discussions, however these remain on a preliminary stage.
The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) refused permission for the second time to the small Minsk-headquartered state-owned lender Paritetbank that wants to buy the Ukrainian operations of Russia's state-owned Sberbank , after the recent rejection of its first bid by the regulator, the central bank's deputy governor Kateryna Rozhkova told Interfax news agency on August 9. She added that the NBU does not currently see a potential buyer for Sberbank in Ukraine. According to bne IntelliNews' correspondent in Minsk, Paritetbank has changed its owners between the two bids, and is now owned by the nation's State Property Fund instead of Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko’s administrative affairs department. In March, the NBU attributed its rejection of the first bid by Paritetbank to "the incompatibility of the applicant with the requirements of the legislation of Ukraine," the NBU said in a statement on March 27, without elaborating.
Russia's Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA) claims RUB68.5bn ($1.1bn) from nine former top managers of Probusinessbank in Moscow Arbitrage Court, Vedomosti daily repored on August 9. Probusinessbank was one of the first banks to be taken off the market in the Central Bank of Russia four-year banking sector clean-up effort that was over in 2017. The bank had its license withdrawn in August 2015, after regulators found a RUB67bn shortfall of capital, now increased to RUB85bn. More than 200,000 legal entities had accounts at the bank, and many were forced out of business due to its closure. DIA now claims that management of the bank was siphoning the assets by crediting shell companies and acquiring third-party securities, as well as took no measures to prevent the bankruptcy. Previously the head of CBR Elvira Nabiullina claimed that one of the goals of the regulator post-clean up will be to recover more funds from shareholders and managers of bailed banks . “If the controlling shareholder has brought the bank to the situation where its license is to be withdrawn or the state is forced to spend funds on a bailout, then the (former) owner should be responsible with all their assets,” Nabiullina said in June. “Of course, this would concern also the owners of the banks already taken over in bailouts. In that regard, we expect to receive the assets we did not yet receive - including financial ones,” the governor added. She estimated that so far the regulator recovered only RUB100bn in assets from former bank owners, while injecting RUB758bn in capital and RUB1.86 trillion worth of deposits. The numbers are final and additional capital and liquidity provisions are seen as limited.
Russia’s state-owned de facto development bank Vnesheconombank (VEB) says it will close its Ukrainian subsidiary as Russian banks continue to withdraw from their neighbouring market, Vedomosti reported on August 13. VEB reportedly called off talks with the last potential buyer of its Ukrainian subsidiary, Prominvestbank, businessman Pavel Fuchs, as the National Bank of Ukraine refused to authorise a deal. However, Kommersant now reports that VEB refused to sell the bank, the Russian daily reports, citing sources close to VEB and Prominvestbank. Now VEB has decided to simply close the bank down, reports Kommersant. VEB has also been in talks with the owner of the
71 RUSSIA Country Report September 2018 www.intellinews.com