04 June 2004 08:47
CREDITTRUST NEEDS CBR PERMISSION FOR SELF-LIQUIDATION
ST. PETERSBURG/MOSCOW/LONDON. June 4 (Interfax) - Credittrust must acquire permission from the Central Bank of Russia
for self-liquidation, CBR First Deputy Chairman Andrei Kozlov said at a press conference Friday.
The Central Bank will make its decision after evaluating the state
of the bank: if there are sufficient assets to meet all creditors
Commenting on Credittrust's decision for voluntary liquidation, Kozlov said that such a step required certain
procedures to meet with existing legislation. The bank must give 30 days notice for an extraordinary shareholders
meeting and announce the meeting's agenda. Then, after such a meeting, it has five days to notify the Central Bank
of its decision for voluntary liquidation and ask permission for such a step.
The Central Bank has not received any documents about liquidation
from Credittrust, Kozlov said. The bank's management remains its
Some depositors are collecting signatures in order to take the
matter to court and try and get their deposits back. Depositors are
claims, permission is given; if there are insufficient assets - the bank may have its license revoked and then be
forced into liquidation or bankruptcy, Kozlov said.
management and continues to implement its functions, he said. All Credittrust payment transactions stopped
All payment transactions have been stopped in Credittrust bank branches and depositors are not sure whether they will
get their money back from the bank, an Interfax correspondent reported from the bank's headquarters.
skeptical about their chances. Personal deposits at the bank totaled 722 million rubles on April 1.
It is not clear who is part of the commission putting the bank into liquidation, but Galina Nogina, an office
manager, said all details about the commission would be announced on Friday at 2:00 p.m., Moscow time. CreditTrust Bank
changes owner
CreditTrust Bank had a change of owner on Thursday night, bank Press Secretary Konstantin Drobyshev told
Interfax.
He did not say whether this change of owner has been legally registered, nor did he name the new owner of the
bank.
He also said that on Friday CreditTrust CEO Alexander Timofeyev met with corporate and private clients of the bank.
"The sides agreed a payment schedule," he said. An initiative group was also set up from among CreditTrust
clients, with which the bank's management will coordinate payments.
He said that the meeting was attended by about 30 people, mostly corporate clients of the bank.
He said that on Monday CreditTrust management would meet with the client group to discuss concrete parameters for
payments.
In answer to a question as to whether Credit Trust plans to receive permission to declare bankruptcy from the Central
Bank, Drobyshev said that this request has already been sent. CBR sees no problem on interbank loan market
The Central Bank of Russia does not see any problem with the situation on the interbank loan market, CBR First Deputy
Chairman Andrei Kozlov said at a press conference Friday.
Commenting on rumors that banks were closing limits on each other, Kozlov cited Central Bank analysts as saying that
interbank loan market interest rates, trading volumes, and liquidity remain normal and are no different from the usual
indicators.
"There are no grounds for any major steps," he said when asked about the Central Bank's refinancing of
banks facing liquidity problems. When liquidity is short, the Central Bank back it up with the help of the instruments
it has at hand, he said.
"If the situation worsens, we have the [necessary] instruments, but the situation is normal now," Kozlov
said.
The Central Bank does not have any black lists for banks, he said. "This phantom is used for dishonest
competition. I ask bankers to calm down, take a break and come back to work on Monday with a clear head and clean
hands," he said. Fitch downgrades Credittrust to 'CC'
Fitch Ratings has downgraded Russia-based Commercial Bank Credittrust's (Credittrust) ratings to International
Long-term 'CC' from 'CCC+', National Long-term 'CCC-(rus)' from 'B+(rus)' and
Individual 'E' from 'D/E', the agency said in a press release Friday.
The Short-term rating has been affirmed at 'C'. The International Long-and Short-term ratings and the
National Long-term rating have been placed on Rating Watch Negative. Fitch anticipates resolving the Rating Watch
Negative in the next few weeks.
The rating action follows the news that Credittrust has been placed into voluntary liquidation. Credittrust's
liquidity has been negatively affected in recent weeks by market perceptions of its association with Sodbusinessbank,
whose licence was revoked by the Central Bank of Russia last month. Although retail funds are not a substantial part of
its funding base, Credittrust subsequently suffered from some exodus of such funds and its access to the money markets
weakened considerably. An additional 500 million rubles of new share capital was injected into the bank very recently to
shore up its balance sheet.
Credittrust is a small bank, with assets of less than 9 billion rubles. It is headquartered in Moscow.
[Interfax] |
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