EXPERT RA CONFIRMS TRUST BANK'S HIGH LEVEL OF CREDIT WORTHINESS
The Expert RA rating agency has declared TRUST Bank to have a "high level of credit worthiness" with a rating outlook listed as "developing."
One of the key factors that determined TRUST Bank's rating was its low number of high-risk active banking transactions. As of 1st July 2014, large credit risks comprised approximately 25% of assets, excluding reserves.
Other factors contributing to the bank's positive rating include its wide-ranging geographical reach and a strong, competitive position in the consumer lending market. The TRUST Organisation is composed of ten branches, with more than 200 smaller departments, as well as an extensive network of mobile offices and POS-lending facilities. Over one million borrowers make use of TRUST Bank's services. "TRUST Bank's ten years of work in retail lending have created a vast client base, including regular borrowers, customers with current accounts, and more than 200 thousand depositors" notes Nikolai Fetisov, member of the bank's board of directors, going on to say that the bank's primary task now consists of "clearly demarcating and carefully working with our target customers."
The rating agency's experts point out that the bank's positive rating was underscored by an increase in capital raised through the issue of shares in the first quarter of 2014, attracting more than 3.1 billion rubles. TRUST Bank is also distinguished by a low level of exchange risk and an excellent system of risk-management.
An increase of overdue loans to private individuals in 2013, something caused by macroeconomic forces and which affected the banking sector as a whole, did put some pressure on the bank's rating. Expert RA's deputy director of ratings, Marina Musiets, notes "from the second quarter of 2014 we've observed a decrease in overdue loans, a consequence of the new policy of tightened credit restrictions."
Nikolai Fetisov, member of TRUST Bank's board of directors, puts the height of defaults on various types of loans in the fourth quarter of 2013 and the first quarter of 2014. Recently, however, there has been an increase in stability which marks the return of familiar dynamics to the market. According the Fetisov "over the course of the past year Russian banks, including TRUST Bank, have tightened lending criteria, while selecting borrowers more carefully, and decreasing the maximum credit avaiable on loans. As a result, portfolios are increasingly composed of quality customers."
The RAS (Russian Accounting Standard) puts TRUST Bank's assets at 227.2 billion rubles as of the 1st of July, 2014 (31st in the Expert RA rankings), with equity of 25.8 billion rubles.
Bank TRUST
Bank TRUST offers the full range of retail banking services and all-inclusive support to its corporate customers and SMEs. The Bank has a really vast regional network: TRUST enjoys presence in 160 cities located in 65 Russian regions while providing services to customers using its offices spread all over the country from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok. In April 2014 RusRating rating agency confirmed the Bank's rating level A- with a stable forecast.
For more information you can contact:
Elizabeth Dikusar
Press-officer
Bank TRUST
+7 (495) 647-90-21 ext. 6207
Lia Ebanoidze
Press-officer
Bank TRUST
+7(495)6479021 ext 6763
