Page 23 - bne IntelliNews weekly newspaper June 23

Weekly Lists
June 23, 2017 www.intellinews.com I Page 23
bne:Banker
S&P cuts Azerbaijan’s Muganbank to ‘CCC+/C’ amid bankruptcy rumours
Moldovan court sentences businessman Shor in $1bn bank fraud case
S&P Global Ratings downgraded Azerbaijani Muganbank’s credit ratings from ‘B-/B’ to ‘CCC+/C’ with a negative outlook on June 21. In its report, the rating agency justified its decision by the degradation in the lender’s credit profile, particularly its liquidity and capitalisation, on the back of unfavourable operating conditions for midsized banks in Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan is currently experiencing a full-fledged banking crisis that started with the depreciation of the manat in 2015, prompting the regulator to revoke the licences of 11 small and medium-sized banks and the authorities to take control of the country’s largest lender, International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA), which was on the brink of default.
A Moldovan court has sentenced Ilan Shor, the main suspect in the $1bn bank frauds that surfaced in 2014, to seven and a half years in prison. In his capacity as head of the management board of Banca de Economii (BEM), Shor was found guilty of siphoning off MDL5bn ($360mn) from the bank in November 2014.
Shor is the third suspect convicted in relation to the bank frauds that cost Moldova more than 10% of its annual GDP, leading to the eventual bankruptcy of BEM and two other banks in 2015. Former Prime Minister Vlad Filat and reputed corporate raider Veaceslav Platon have already received prison sentences.
The net profit of Russian banks amounted to RUB653bn (€9.9bn) in January-May from RUB235bn in the same period of the last year, the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) said on June 21.
Of all Russian banks, 415 lenders turned in a profit in January- March, amounting to RUB701bn. Meanwhile, 166 lenders reported losses, which totalled RUB48bn.
Russian banks’ profits surge in January-May