Asia-Pacific Bank: reviews of bank customers on loans, deposits

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

"Asia-Pacific Bank" is a universal bank that has been providing a full range of services to individuals and businesses for more than twenty years. Twelve years ago, the commercial institution was known as Amurpromstroybank. The bank was later named "Asia-Pacific Bank", ATB for short.

"Asia-Pacific Bank" participates in the deposit insurance system. The commercial bank is confidently included in the top hundred in terms of high financial performance of banking activities. The branch network of the credit institution is located in many regions of our country (Krasnoyarsk, Barnaul).

According to reviews, "Asia-Pacific Bank" is a major player in the provision of financial services in the Far East.

Changeable weather in the financial market of our country began about two years ago, and sincesince then, she has more than once risked turning into a full-fledged hurricane. In 2016, not even a few weeks passed without citizens learning the news about which credit institutions were again deprived of their licenses by the Bank of Russia, and how many billion rubles are in losses from the deprivation of licenses of these banks, and how the deposit insurance agency is going to return the missing funds defrauded depositors.

In such a difficult situation, a randomly spoken word about a bank caused an unexpected reaction from its customers. At some point, the Asian-Pacific Bank fell under the sights of the attention of journalists. Talk and gossip about the fact that depositors are having problems in order to withdraw deposits from the ATB bank flared up stronger day by day. And all this happened against the backdrop of real growing problems for a commercial bank.

Quick reference

According to reviews, the Asia-Pacific Bank is recognized as one of the largest credit institutions in the Far East.

The general meeting of ATB owners in November 2016 decided to change the location of the head office of the credit institution and make the necessary changes to the charter of the credit institution. According to the decision, the head office of the Asia-Pacific Bank will be based in the city of Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk. Prior to this, the commercial bank was based in the city of Blagoveshchensk.

The bank immediately specified that all major departments would be located in Blagoveshchensk and the capital. At the same time, it is possible to recruit personnel in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk to strengthen the presencecommercial bank in the selected region.

The main owners are a group of businessmen who own "PPFIN Region". Activities of ATB:

• lending to households and businesses;
• attracting money from citizens in deposits;
• activity in the foreign exchange market.

As of April 1 of the current year, the indicators of the institution:

• net assets - 118.25 billion rubles;
• capital - 9.09 billion;
• active portfolio - 68.20 billion;
• liabilities to depositors - 59.86 billion

Not an easy biography

The credit institution has been operating since 1929. At that time, a branch of Promstroybank of the USSR was formed in the Amur District. In February 1992, Amurpromstroybank was registered on the basis of a branch of this bank in the Amur Region. Eight years later, the commercial bank, due to its unstable financial situation, experienced its first reorganization. Then he came under the control of the Agency for the Restructuring of Credit Organizations. Two years after the additional capitalization, Amurpromstroybank was bought out again by private individuals. In 2006, the credit institution was renamed "Asia-Pacific Bank".

After ten years of banking activity, in 2015, ATB started having problems again. For the first nine months of 2015, when the Asia-Pacific Bank suffered financial losses in the amount of 1.6 billion rubles. In the next 2016, things seem to bewent uphill, so, according to the results of the first half of the year, the profit of a credit institution exceeded one billion rubles. Although in April, Moody's sharply lowered its expert assessments and expectations for the bank. According to reviews, the Asia-Pacific Bank reacted immediately and announced the termination of its cooperation with this rating agency. In May, Moody's Investors Service withdrew all of its ratings for the credit institution. It is worth noting that at the time of the ratings withdrawal, there was a negative trend in long-term deposit scenarios.

Amid actively growing rumors about a possible revocation of the license from the Asia-Pacific Bank, fuel was added to the fire by journalists who reported on the connection of the main shareholder of ATB, Andrey Vdovin, with Bank M2M Europe, operating in Latvia. In their opinion, it was this institution that could help the unscrupulous owner withdraw the funds of depositors abroad. ATB representatives demanded the media to stop spreading unconfirmed information. According to customer reviews, Asia-Pacific Bank and its press service denied rumors about problems in the credit institution and believed that all publications in the media are just an attempt to provoke a wave of withdrawal of depositors from the bank from scratch. The bank's management hoped that the bank would stop the spread of negative information about its economic situation and solve all its problems.

Revocation of license from "M2M Private Bank"

In early December 2016, the Bank of Russia took away the license for financialoperations at M2M Private Bank. The decision to apply this measure was made due to the bank's failure to properly comply with laws and regulations, as well as the inability to cover the claims of creditors on its obligations. "M2M Private Bank" persistently placed depositors' funds in low-quality assets, without creating adequate reserves. Due to the poor quality of assets, the bank failed to properly fulfill its obligations. It is worth noting that the credit institution was a premium one and worked mainly with we althy private clients. The conditions of the economic crisis began to dictate new requirements for doing business, and all major depositors began to try to diversify their savings by withdrawing part of the funds from the bank. M2M Private Bank began to experience difficulties due to the loss of about ten billion rubles of depositors. The Bank of Russia was forced to fulfill its obligation to revoke the institution's license to carry out operations.

M2M Private Bank is not the only bank experiencing difficulties because of shareholder Andrey Vdovin. He was one of those who took part in the bankruptcy of BaikalBank. The most interesting thing is that at that time BaikalBank was experiencing great financial difficulties. With "Expobank" also turned out to be quite an interesting story. When sold to the British bank Barclays, it became almost gold. British entrepreneurs bought Expobank with an abnormal ratio - four to the financial assets of a commercial bank. In world practice, bankingthe market has never been bought with such an expensive ratio by any commercial bank in any country in the world. As a result of the sale transaction, Petropavlovsk Finance earned several hundred million dollars. Among the co-owners of the company was Mr. Vdovin. At first, Barclays hired Mr. Vdovin to the board of directors, but then they got rid of him very quickly.

ATB shareholders immediately began discussing with the Bank of Russia a scheme that would allow the credit institution to avoid huge problems for the Asia-Pacific Bank. The revocation of the license from M2M Private Bank, which is a subsidiary of ATB, forced the latter to complete the reserves required by law in the amount of about seven billion rubles.

The rating agency "KPMG" in its opinion on the activities of a commercial bank for 2016 wrote that it doubts the ability of the "Asia-Pacific Bank" to continue its activities after the additional creation of reserves. At that time, ATB had assets totaling more than eight billion rubles, with very unlikely opportunities for their return.

Asia-Pacific Bank itself noted that an unsuccessful investment in M2M Private Bank has a short-term image effect, and otherwise does not have a special impact on the business of a credit institution. This was also evidenced by its economic indicators. In 2016, the bank worked with a profit of 306 million rubles. At the beginning of next year, the credit institution was able to earn 176.3 million. ActiveAs of April 1, ATB's portfolio amounted to 76.3 billion rubles, the volume of deposits of individuals - 71.02 billion.

Preventive measures

It is worth noting that in order to avoid possible problems with liquidity, the Asia-Pacific Bank, which owns a stake in the credit organization M2M Private Bank, was forbidden to continue lending to its "daughter" back in October. These instructions were given by the Bank of Russia in order to maintain the stability of ATB.

Despite the ratings of agencies, "Asia-Pacific Bank" continued to develop rapidly. As part of the rebranding, the credit institution rapidly updated its offices: Krasnoyarsk, Ulan-Ude, Barnaul. According to reviews of the Asia-Pacific Bank, this process had a positive effect on the image of the bank and was to be completed next year. ATB constantly offered its customers new banking products. For example, eight types of deposits were available to individuals, the highest interest rate for one of them is 10.2 percent. ATB has never raised rates up, which indicates the stability of the credit structure. The credit institution has always maintained a personal approach when working with corporate structures, combining affordable interest rates with other attractive conditions (long loan term, individual repayment schedule and much more).

Installment

The Bank of Russia demanded that ATB create 100% reserves for loans provided by M2M Private Bank."Asian-Pacific Bank" was supposed to withdraw working capital in the amount of 5.1 billion rubles and place them on an account with the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. The main regulator, in order to avoid huge liquidity problems for ATB due to the fulfillment of the requirements, provided the credit institution with an installment plan until the end of last year. Unfortunately, by the end of the installment period, which the Bank of Russia provided to ATB for reserving the granted loan to M2M Private Bank, which had lost its license, Asia-Pacific Bank did not manage to fulfill the requirements of the regulator. The bank managed to create reserves for about eighty percent of the loan. At the beginning of 2018, the problems of the Asia-Pacific Bank forced it to ask the Central Bank of the Russian Federation to extend the installment plan. Fortunately for everyone, the Bank of Russia agreed to fulfill the request of ATB and gave him the opportunity to reserve a loan from M2M Private Bank by the beginning of April this year. The creation of a 100% reserve, according to the latest news, ATB Bank will inevitably force you to replenish your capital, which, in fact, the main regulator insists on.

Requirement to change shareholder

Another requirement of the Bank of Russia, according to the opinion of the employees of the Asia-Pacific Bank, is to change shareholders. One of the largest owners of the credit institution was Andrei Vdovin, who until recently was a co-owner of Azbuka Vkusa. The order of the main regulator, sent by ATB after the revocation of the license from M2M Private Bank, was to reduce the share of Andrey Vdovin tothreshold of ten percent.

According to the opinion of the employees of the "Asia-Pacific Bank", the institution fulfilled the requirement of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation formally. Former shareholders of the credit institution retained their influence in the bank through PPFIN Region, reducing their stake to 8.24 percent. Prior to the demands made by the Bank of Russia, the three leading owners (Vdovin, Maslovsky and Hambro) each owned 22.5 percent of ATB shares, respectively.

Formally, new people appeared in the list of shareholders of the Asia-Pacific Bank at the end of last year. For example, a certain Maxim Chernavin, who has close business ties with Andrei Vdovin. Mr. Chernavin until recently was an expert at Bank M2M Europe, owned by Andrey Vdovin. "Bank M2M", operating in Latvia last year, was sold and renamed to Signet Bank AS. Now Maxim Chernavin owns about a third of the shares of Shelmer Holding Ltd, registered in the British Virgin Islands.

Due to the fulfillment of the requirements of the regulator to solve all current problems in 2018, the Asia-Pacific Bank had the following shareholder structure:

• Shelmer Holding Ltd - 31.81% (Maxim Chernavin is the main owner);
• "International Financial Corporation" - 10%;
• Epic Vision;
• "PPFIN Region" (the main owner is Andrey Vdovin) - 8.24%.

According to reviews of the Asia-Pacific Bank, the credit institution tried to find a new investor all last year, but, tounfortunately, without success. Representatives of ATB continue to tell media representatives that the bank's shareholder structure has been brought into line with the requirements of the Bank of Russia and the provision for loans from M2M Private Bank was made in 100% compliance with the requirements of the main regulator. The owners insist that today the problems of ATB Bank have been resolved, and the credit institution is operating as usual.

Inevitable sanitation

The latest news about ATB confirms that, having waited for the credit institution to create a 100% reserve in difficult financial conditions according to the schedule agreed with the Bank of Russia, the regulator made an ambiguous decision for many to reorganize the bank. The leadership of the Asia-Pacific Bank did a very difficult job of collecting more than five billion rubles, not counting other reserves placed on a correspondent account with the main regulator of banking. After that, the entire composition of the leaders was removed and a temporary administration was introduced instead.

According to customer reviews, the Asia-Pacific Bank was not deprived of its license due to deposits of the population totaling more than sixty billion rubles. Depositors' losses would have to be covered by the DIA. On the eve of the inauguration of the President of our country and the upcoming personnel changes in the highest echelons of power, such expenses at the state level seemed inappropriate to the Bank of Russia, as well as unrest among the population of the eastern part of the country.

There is one morean assumption why the news about the closure of ATB Bank in 2018 will remain false. The crisis situation with ATB, if it is negatively resolved, will bring many problems for the economy of the Far East. Judging by customer reviews on loans from the Asia-Pacific Bank, the credit institution actively provides loans on favorable terms to small and medium-sized businesses. The termination of the activities of such a large bank in the region will create problems with the financing of several sectors of the economy (for example, construction). According to reviews about the branches of the Asia-Pacific Bank, several thousand banking specialists work in them. The closure of a credit institution will lead to a huge release of specialists into the labor market due to the reduction of banking staff. Only in the large city of Krasnoyarsk, according to reviews of the Asia-Pacific Bank, there are currently eleven branches.

The Bank of Russia also confirmed that it had decided to sanitize the Asia-Pacific Bank, primarily because of its social significance for the two economic zones of our country, the Far East and Eastern Siberia.

ATB is one of the main socially significant commercial banks in Eastern Siberia and the Far East. Due to the importance for social development in the main regions of presence, the cessation of the activities of a credit institution or the disruption of the continuity of its banking activities would have extremely negative consequences for the sustainable financial system of such vast regions.

In addition, the Bank of Russia will confirmthat in the event of significant liquidity problems, the Asia-Pacific Bank will provide it with urgent financial assistance using the funds of the Banking Sector Consolidation Fund of our country.

The Central Bank of the Russian Federation noted that ATB continues its activities as usual, fulfilling its current obligations and making transactions.

Depositor withdrawal channel

When asked by media representatives why the Bank of Russia decided to further solve the problems of the Asia-Pacific Bank, employees of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation replied that they had discovered signs of a financial pyramid in the activities of a credit institution. ATB, in their opinion, consistently organized activities for the sale of the bills of the company "FTK" to the population. This institution, according to preliminary data, was used by the former main shareholder, Andrey Vdovin, to solve his personal problems. The FTK company, in the opinion of the main regulator, has all the signs of payment insolvency:

• The FTC's debt on promissory notes today has already reached more than four billion rubles.
• The company has no cash receipts and pays off previously issued promissory notes by issuing new securities.

It is worth noting that the clarifications of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation do not give a clear answer to the question of how the obligations of the FTC on promissory notes could affect the stability of a financial institution.

Shareholder arrest

Not so long agoThe Tverskoy Court of Moscow ruled in absentia on the arrest of one of the main shareholders of ATB, Andrei Vdovin, who obviously raises many questions from the main regulator. The banker is charged with fraud on an especially large scale, namely the theft of thirteen million dollars. Mr. Vdovin himself left the territory of our country and, apparently, does not intend to return. He has been put on the wanted list at the federal and international levels. At home, Andrey Vdovin has many creditors who want to receive the funds taken from them, among them, for example, BaikalBank, where the banker issued a loan for two hundred million rubles. Today, ATB Bank solves problems with the license without the participation of its former main shareholder.

Filing a petition for the arrest in absentia of Mr. Vdovin, a representative of the investigating authority said that the accused is currently on the wanted list. The investigators made repeated attempts to ensure the appearance of Mr. Vdovin before the investigating authorities, but, unfortunately, they were unsuccessful. It was found that the banker left the country last year and is no longer going to return to his homeland, where creditors and investigating authorities are waiting for him. According to the representative of the law, while abroad, Andrey Vdovin seeks to establish contact with accomplices in the crime and develop a common position with them in court.

The banker's lawyer stressed that the criminal act charged against Andrei Vdovin should be qualified as an economic crime, and asked to choose any measure of restraint for the client, except for imprisonment. The decision to put the banker on the wanted list was also challenged by lawyers in court.

Appeal

Lawyers for the co-owner of ATB, Mr. Vdovin, appealed against the decision of the Tverskoy Court of the capital on the election of a measure of restraint in relation to his client in the form of arrest in absentia in a criminal case of fraud in the amount of thirteen million dollars.

Systemic bank in the Far East

It is worth noting a very important feature of the development of the financial sector in our country. There are fewer and fewer large banks in the regions of the country. Now there is an active process of consolidation of credit institutions, state-owned banks occupy an increasing share in the banking market. The disadvantage of large banks is that they are not always able to provide decent financing to regional small businesses, because they do not know all the needs and characteristics of local entrepreneurs in the regions. According to reviews of the "Asia-Pacific Bank", he successfully performs this difficult task in the Far East.

According to the NRA, it is state-owned banks that receive almost one hundred percent of the banking sector's profits, and these lending institutions focus on lending to large institutions. This, in turn, slows down the solution of one of the main tasks facing our country today, namely, increasing the share of small and medium-sized businesses in the state's GDP. Small businesses in the regions are in dire need of strong support from regional banks, ashow well they are familiar with the needs and demands of their local business people. According to reviews of loans in the Asia-Pacific Bank, the credit institution is actively providing loans to enterprises in the Far East. We can say that ATB is a backbone bank for this region. Unlike major players in the banking market, regional credit institutions work side by side with their clients, without bureaucratic delays. Very often, such banks operate in the most distant cities of the region, where state-owned banks simply cannot or do not want to reach. In the territories of its presence, ATB occupies the main market share and is included among the leaders after such major players as Sberbank and VTB. In Chukotka, the commercial bank "ATB" is recognized as the undisputed leader.

Another region where there are strong regional banks is Tatarstan. Not so long ago it was Tatfondbank, but it lost its license from the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. Now Ak Bars remains in the game.

Results

Recovery of the country's financial sector continues and will continue. According to the head of the Bank of Russia, Ms. Nabiullina, it will come to an end not earlier than in a couple of years. Because of such a brutal purge among credit institutions, the Bank of Russia is often criticized. The difficulty is that in most cases commercial structures that carry out illegal operations or carry out inappropriate credit policies, that is, they actually risk the funds of depositors on a daily basis, stop their activities. Whereinthe bankruptcy of four out of five banks that have lost their licenses are of a criminal nature for the illegal withdrawal of the population's money abroad.

The Bank of Russia is trying to the last to save credit institutions in situations where it is possible and appropriate. It was not possible to find funds, in particular, for the rehabilitation of Tatfondbank, but the successful Ak Bars remained in the region. The main regulator is always trying to save the backbone regional banks. And as a result, it is now solving the problems of a credit institution. There are no problems with withdrawing a deposit from ATB Bank now, this can be done without difficulty. Each depositor has the right to independently make decisions - to trust the bank or not. The latest news about ATB Bank today does not indicate an influx of citizens into the institution's branches.