CEO says Russia’s VTB bank can avoid new sanctions

MOSCOW, Mar 29 (PRIME) – Sanctions against VTB will remain the same, or even if there are new restrictions they will not affect it directly, CEO Andrei Kostin said on Monday.

"We base our assumptions on the current situation: the sanction measures against the bank will remain at the same level. Some aspects of activities of the bank will not be directly affected by possible new sanctions," Kostin said.

“Although it is clear that any sanctions reflect on the economy, on our clients. This can have a negative effect, of course.”

But the bank has plans including these factors and has not been focused on the Western markets since long ago.

The official said that the bank does not expect bankruptcies and nonpayment of loans.

"We did not see it last year and we do not feel that our clients undergo any catastrophic changes," Kostin said. VTB provided 300 billion rubles of grace periods to the households and restructured 230 billion rubles of loans to the small and medium business, he said, adding that the increase of soured loans is manageable.

The central bank sent a strong monetary policy signal to the market with its key rate increase and comments, which is why VTB is worried, he said.

He said that the bank expected that the rate will increase.

“We are a bit worried by the central bank’s rhetoric. It was quite aggressive about the increase and announced that it will move further. This is a tough signal for the market,” the banker said.

Kostin also said that the biggest Russian banks, Sberbank and VTB, could raise purchases of state OFZ bonds and VTB is waiting for a decision of the Finance Ministry.

The idea to buy VTB’s preferred shares was deemed untimely and turned down, Kostin said.

Kostin said that VTB would sell AGD Diamonds to an investor with a relevant profile for 'live' money if the bank wins the asset in litigations.

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