Russian cbank revokes licenses from 3 small banks

MOSCOW, Nov 18 (PRIME) -- The central bank has revoked a license from Natsionalny Zalogovy Bank (NZBank), Russia’s 375th by assets as of November 1, Bank Metropol, the country’s 371st largest, and OLMA-Bank, 611th largest, from Friday, the regulator said in a statement.

Moscow Region–based NZBank did not comply with legislation regulating banking activity, the central bank’s regulatory acts, and with laws for fighting money laundering and terrorism financing. The bank also improperly assessed its risks and lost its capital after an appropriate estimation of risks.

Moscow-based Bank Metropol also did not comply with legislation regulating banking activity, placed money in low-quality assets and failed to estimate risks from these operations properly. During implementation of the central bank’s orders on provision of reserves against possible losses, the bank has repeatedly showed signs of insolvency. The bank was also involved in shady operations.

Moscow-based OLMA-Bank’s equity has been lower than defined by the banking regulation as least for three months in a row and the bank did not request the central bank to change its status to a non-banking credit institution. Management did not take any actions to increase equity above the minimum threshold of 300 million rubles.

All three banks are members of the deposit insurance system, which means that each depositor may receive up to 1.4 million rubles in compensation.

(64.9154 rubles – U.S. $1)

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