Russian Central Bank revokes three banks’ licences

MOSCOW, July 25. /ITAR-TASS/. The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) revoked licences of three commercial banks on Friday. Unicorbank and Auerbank in Moscow and New Commercial Bank in the Republic of Dagestan violated federal laws on banking activities and the CBR regulatory acts.

The banks fare modestly on the Russian rating by assets: as of July 1, they ranked 364th, 753rd and 829th respectively. All the three banks participate in the deposit insurance system, so their customers will get an insurance indemnity.

Elimination of small banks now pursued by the regulator is aimed to restructure the financial system, consolidate the banking sector and clean it of criminal players. According to CBR governor Elvira Nabiullina, “licences are only revoked if a bank core business is servicing shadow or criminal economy or if a bank it goes through serious financial problems”.

446 Russian credit organizations lost licences in 2000-2013; 43 had their licences revoked since the beginning of the year. They were mostly located in North Caucasus, Moscow and Siberia.

The Central Bank is now compiling a list of systemically important banks that will enjoy the regulator’s special attention. The volume of assets, retail deposits and deals on the interbank market are the criteria.