Page 68 - RusRPTDec18

stopped. The state bank and other major deposit holders have been increasing deposit rates in the past two months.
Sberbank has confirmed previous reports that it might move its headquarters to the proximity of the Moscow City business district. In October bne IntelliNews reported that Russia's largest bank could sell its famous headquarters on Moscow's Vavilova street after getting two unfinished office towers by the business district Moscow City as collateral for unpaid debt.
8.1.9 Bank news
Russia's second-largest state-controlled bank VTB is not planning an acquisition of Russian private Alfa Bank, neither partially, nor in full, in the next three years, the head of VTB Andrei Kostin said on the side-lines of the Russia Calling! investment forum, as cited by Interfax on November 28. Industry sources told bne IntelliNews that the sale of Alfa Bank was imminent, but while the owner Mikhail Fridman had agreed to sell, a buyer has not yet been found. VTB has been named as one of candidates approached. The rumours on sale to VTB started after the member of VTB’s board Vladimir Verkhoshinsky in August became the CEO of Alfa Bank and the deputy chairman of Alfa's board in September. Kostin commented that Fridman made a right choice in Verkhoshinsky and supported his promotion in the bank. He also added that Alfa is the flagship private bank in Russia with strong corporate culture and its integration into VTB would be difficult.
Russia's third largest bank, state-affiliated Gazprombank, keeps information on over RUB1 trillion ($15bn) of loans to non-residents secret, RBC business daily reported on November 29 citing the reports of the bank to the Central Bank of Russia (CBR). The analysts surveyed by RBC believe that Gazprombank has made heavy use of the right to keep reporting and disclosure standards secret granted by the government in November 2018 to help Russian companies and banks avoid sanctions.
Russia's state development bank Vnesheconombank (VEB) reported net profit of RUB6bn ($90mn) in the third quarter of 2018, swinging from RUB62bn loss for the same quarter of last year and making the bank’s first profit since the first quarter of 2017, the bank said on November 30. In 2018 VEB was revamped into the main hub of state infrastructure spending, and
68 RUSSIA Country Report December 2018 www.intellinews.com