Page 72 - RusRPTNov18

One of Russia's largest banks digital Tinkoff Bank of Tinkov Credit Systems (TCS) will transfer its voice recognition solutions to state integrated telecom major Rostelecom to be used in the United Biometric System (EBS) of the Central Bank of Russia (CBR), the companies said on October 19. EBS is operational as of July 1 and allows its users of such banks as VTB, Alfa-bank, Home Credit Bank and Rosbank to remotely open accounts, request new loans, or order banking transfers upon biometric identification that includes voice samples and face photography. In October reports suggested that Russia's largest bank Sberbank was considering developing its own biometric platform that would compete with the EBS. Reportedly Sberbank upped investment in speech recognition start-ups and started collecting voice samples from its clients.
Following a ruling by the Moscow Arbitrage Court the former top-manager of Russian bank Financial Corporation Otkritie Tatyana Serebryannikova must repay RUB43.5mn ($0.66mn) of bonuses to the bank that is now owned by the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) after the bail out in 2017, Vedomosti daily said on October 18. The ruling is one of the first results of the tougher stance the CBR pledged to take on rogue bankers in 2018 .
Russia's state development bank Vnesheconombank (VEB) will get extra RUB25.5bn ($0.4bn) from the government to cover external debt in 2018, Reuters reported on October 19. Another RUB3.1bn subsidy will be granted for investment projects in the Far East district. VEB that was on the brink of default in 2015-2016 overburdened by loans issued for Sochi Olympics construction and hit by sanctions, has been slated by Kremlin to become one of the main hubs of infrastructure spending drive after an appointment of Shuvalov, ex-Deputy Prime Minister and trusted Kremlin bureaucrat. In addition to the reported RUB28bn, this year VEB already received RUB100bn of state support, with the same amount budgeted for 2019. As of June 30 2018 VEB's external Eurobond debt amounted to RUB386bn. After the appointment of Shuvalov, the bank started shedding non-core assets and could require an additional RUB1 trillion ($16bn) capital injection over the next five years, as well as receiving part of the RUB3.5 trillion Growth Fund to be established in 2019. The bank will also be allowed to become a major player on the pension fund market. This month Shuvalov argued that VEB could raise 3- to 4-fold more loans given cooperation with Russia's largest banks, such as Sberbank, VTB, Gazprombank, and others. In September Vedomosti d aily reported that VEB will start to form syndicates with commercial banks to increase the number and volume of investment projects under its mandate. VEB will no longer act as the only creditor of the investment projects and will start attracting syndications from commercial banks.
A Westminster court declined the Russian demands to extradite banker Ilya Yurov, former co-owner of the Trust Bank , who is charged with misappropriation and embezzlement at home. Trust Bank was bailed by the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) in 2014, after which Yurov fled to UK. The bailout cost RUB127bn ($2bn) and the bank will now be used as a base for a "bad assets" fund established by the CBR after its massive banking clean-up drive. Besides the embezzlement charges, Yurov and other co-owners Nikolay Fetisov, Sergei Belyaev and their wives face $830mn compensation claims. The former deputy head of the bank and the CFO, Oleg Dikusara and Evgeny Romkov, got seven and four years in jail, respectively, in Russia.
72 RUSSIA Country Report November 2018 www.intellinews.com