UPDATE: Otkritie says in contact with cbank, has support

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MOSCOW, Aug 22 (PRIME) -- Russia’s Otkritie Financial Corporation (FC) Bank is in constant contact with the central bank feeling its support and expects that the Analytical Credit Rating Agency (ACRA) will take this into account while revising the bank’s rating, Anatoly Predtechensky, the bank’s managing director, told PRIME on Tuesday.

“We are in constant contact with the regulator and feel its support in conditions of artificially created turbulence on the banking market. We believe that the existence of this support indicates a high level of systemic importance of the bank. We expect that ACRA will take into account this fact in its further rating actions,” he said.

ACRA said late Monday it put Otkritie FC Bank’s credit rating on review with a negative outlook.

“The assignment of the status “rating on review – negative” on the credit rating of Otkritie FC Bank reflects ACRA’s opinion about a possible worsening of the bank’s liquidity position in connection with a number of factors,” the statement said.

A significant outflow of client deposits in June–July and the bank’s growing dependence on the central bank’s refinancing operations are among such factors.

The bank lost 433 billion rubles, or 26% of its client deposits, in June–July, ACRA said.

The current liquidity ratio of the bank fell to 21% as of August 1 from 28% as of June 1, which is significantly lower than the ratio at comparable private banks, ACRA said.

Previously, ACRA assigned the BBB- rating with a stable outlook for Otkritie FC Bank.

Moody’s Investors Service recently placed on review for downgrade the Ba3 long-term foreign- and local-currency senior unsecured debt and deposit ratings of Otkritie FC Bank.

S&P Global Ratings (S&P) said earlier that the bank’s long-term credit rating remains on credit watch with a negative outlook due to potential pressure on funding and liquidity.

The move follows an expert report by Alfa Capital that warned its clients about problems at Otkritie FC Bank.

(59.1409 rubles – U.S. $1)

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