UPDATE 2: Antitrust to issue warning to Alfa Capital Fri or Aug 21

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MOSCOW, Aug 17 (PRIME) -- Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service will issue a warning to Alfa Capital, part of Alfa-Bank Group, over a newsletter notifying its clients of problems in several country’s largest banks on Friday or August 21, the authority’s Deputy Director Andrei Kashevarov told PRIME on Thursday.

Liliya Belyayeva, deputy director of the service’s department for financial markets control, said earlier in the day that the authority had received an application by the central bank to check Alfa Capital for unfair competition.

Kashevarov said: “As you know, we have requested Alfa Capital earlier but a letter by the central bank sent today is enough for us to issue a warning to Alfa Capital over unfair competition. We are preparing it, it will be issued either tomorrow or on Monday.”

The antitrust service said on Wednesday that it had sent a request to Alfa Capital after the investment company warned its clients about problems at Otkritie Financial Corporation (FC) Bank, B&N Bank, Credit Bank of Moscow and Promsvyazbank. The service said it was waiting for a response until August 21 to decide whether the actions by the bank violated the antitrust legislation.

Alfa Capital said that the newsletter was based on a personal opinion of an expert and that the company possessed no insider information about the mentioned banks.

A spokesperson for Credit Bank of Moscow said that the bank will not sue Alfa Capital for the newsletter. “Credit Bank of Moscow does not plan to take any steps against Alfa Capital.”

A spokesperson for Promsvyazbank said that the bank hopes that the central bank will solve the situation independently. The spokesperson declined to comment on a possible lawsuit against Alfa Capital.

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