JSC "Gorod Bank": feedback from employees and customers

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

Bank Gorod is another commercial Russian bank whose license was revoked by the Central Bank. The collapse of the financial institution occurred in 2015. Some depositors are still waiting to be reimbursed by the Deposit Insurance Agency. According to reviews, "Bank City" has become an example of another financial scam with money laundering abroad, and banking activities were only a cover for the organization's management.

Bank History

Bank Gorod, which became known to most Russians only after the scandalous bankruptcy, previously bore the modest name of Vorkuta Bank, since it was founded in the city of the same name in 1994. Gradually, the assets of the financial organization began to increase, and the company entered the all-Russian lending market.

In 2004, Vorkuta Bank became a member of the deposit insurance system. Change of name to a well-known brandBank City happened in 2007. After 4 years, the head branch moved to the capital. In 2012, a branch from Tatarstan, AIB Ipoteka-Invest, joined the Bank Gorod group. Until 2015, there were no major changes in the structure of the bank.

The owners of the bank, father and son Kvasnyuk, previously headed other credit institutions (CB Alta-Bank, CB Vostokbusinessbank, OJSC Nash Bank, JSCB Obshchiy and Stroycredit-Kazan).

First financial difficulties

Until October 2015, there were no prerequisites for the future bankruptcy of Gorod Bank. And although the lender was not an influential figure in the Russian economic market, the bank was in the TOP-200 of Russia in terms of assets (190th in the 2015 rating).

Neither the bank's clients nor financial analysts could even imagine that the bank would go bankrupt in 2015. The procedure lasted less than a month: a quick period, which is typical for companies with medium assets (up to 100 billion rubles).

In October 2015, customers who came to pay their bills at the offices of Bank Gorod were unexpectedly refused. Bank employees explained the impossibility of making transactions with temporary technical problems. Even in large banks such as Sberbank and VTB 24, failures periodically occur, so customers did not attach much importance to what was happening.

Loss of liquidity

But when the refusal to accept payments lasted 3 days, many depositors began to fear for their money in the accounts of the "BankCity". Clients began to massively close deposits. This led to a sharp reduction in the assets of Bank City, which consisted of 95% of the assets of individuals. Information about possible financial problems began to emerge in reviews of the deposits of Bank City (Vorkuta). lender.

A week later, on November 9, it became known that the Central Bank drew attention to the bank's liquidity shortage and began monitoring the creditor's condition. This means that if problems persist, Bank Gorod was threatened with license revocation and bankruptcy.

Negative trends and central bank attention

In their feedback on the deposits of Bank Gorod, customers wrote that from November 10 to November 20 they were unable to withdraw funds from their accounts. The bank suspended all operations for an indefinite period. Information about serious financial problems of the bank began to appear on the network.

Economists noted that at the beginning of 2015, the Central Bank made a remark about the risky credit policy to the leadership of the bank. Later it became known that the company did not reserve funds in case of loan losses.

Hope for recovery

Rumors about the problems of Bank Gorod in the media and the Internet only exacerbated the situation. The reputation of the bank was on the verge, and the top management had to take decisive measures to restore the financial well-being of the creditor.

The management of the bank in an interview with journalists said that an increase in assets in the amount of 700 million rubles is expected soon. Suchinvestments can support the financial situation of the creditor and restore hope for the restoration of liquidity.

The deal was scheduled for November 16, 2015. Reserves in such a volume (700 million rubles) were able to return the liquidity of Bank Gorod to a level close to the minimum value.

Clients who did not have time to receive funds on deposits, hoped that with the investment of capital from investors, the situation in the bank would stabilize. Those who deposited less than 1.4 million rubles could not worry about their funds. Since Bank Gorod was a member of the deposit insurance system since 2004, amounts up to 1.4 million rubles were paid to customers in 100% volume.

Bank failure and license revocation

But the financial assistance promised by the bank's management did not come. As a result, November 16 became the date when Bank Gorod became bankrupt. Since November 16, 2015, the license of Bank Gorod has been revoked by the Central Bank of Russia.

According to economic experts, not only a sharp loss of liquidity served as an impetus for taking extreme measures against Bank Gorod. The Moscow prosecutor's office became interested in the situation of a financial organization originally from Vorkuta.

Analysis of the bank's assets during the crisis led to unexpected results. According to experts from the Deposit Insurance Agency, more than 10 billion rubles were missing on the balance sheet of Bank Gorod. During the analysis, repeated transfers abroad in especially large amounts were found.

Financialcreditor violations

The noted violations in the form of transferring millions of rubles abroad were not commented on by the bank's management. The Central Bank in November 2015 decided to appoint an interim leadership. The duties of the new management team included the policy of rehabilitation of Bank Gorod.

But the real directors refused to provide loan documents for amounts over 11 billion rubles. This confirmed the Central Bank's concerns about the policy of illicit capital circulation.

Based on the results of economic activity, a criminal case was opened. The Moscow Arbitration Court has sentenced former Bank Gorod executives to reimburse more than 10.5 billion rubles illegally hidden from the Financial Commission.

Savers' problems

Most of those who are interested in the situation of Bank Gorod are former depositors. They hope to return savings that are insured for up to 1.4 million rubles per client.

When asked by journalists: "Do you think Bank Gorod is the end?", customer reviews differ. Despite financial problems, more than 3% of respondents are confident that some of the organization's branches can still restore work. But the majority (89%) of clients are inclined to believe that the lender has finally left the Russian banking sector.

The main problems of depositors are related to getting back the cash they have invested in Bank Gorod deposits. According to customer reviews,"Bank Gorod" was trusted by the population, despite the lack of a bright brand and advertising. Favorable conditions for individual entrepreneurs and individuals, comfortable offices and competent staff are the advantages of Bank Gorod, for which it was famous before the revocation of its license.

Paying refunds to Bank Gorod customers

After the bankruptcy, Bank Gorod customers began to actively apply for insurance compensation payments. The Deposit Insurance Agency appointed 2 agent banks to receive payments from former clients of Bank Gorod. Clients from Tatarstan can apply to Rosselkhozbank branches, other depositors must apply for a refund at VTB 24 branches.

The list of additional offices of agent banks is presented on the website of the Deposit Insurance Agency in the section dedicated to Bank Gorod. According to competent and professional reviews about Bank Gorod from those who have already received a refund, payments by depositors are made within 6 months from the date of submission of the package of documents to the agency offices.

Reviews of deceived depositors

Clients who were forced to return their cash through the Deposit Insurance Agency spoke extremely negatively about the work of the lender. Citizens were most dissatisfied with the fact of hiding the real financial situation in the bank during the delay in payments.

Reviews about Bank Gorod (Vorkuta) show how wastefulfinancial activities can lead to serious problems for the bank and management. According to experts, the bank is obliged to compensate depositors for damages in the amount of almost 10 billion rubles. Another 55 million rubles is owed to individual entrepreneurs and corporate clients, since Bank Gorod provided services for retail outlets, acquiring, opening and maintaining accounts for legal entities.

Positive feedback about the bank is left only by those depositors who managed to withdraw cash from their accounts before its bankruptcy. Information in such comments dates from 2015 and earlier.

Customers write in reviews about "Gorod Bank" not always only negative. Before bankruptcy, he fully met their requirements and met the business standards declared in Russia. The current situation is related to the activities of the management, which decided to conduct a dubious business, hiding behind the banking sector.

Many economists agree with this opinion, arguing that Bank Gorod managed to hold out on the Russian market for more than 20 years. It was formed during a serious, protracted economic crisis. The company overcame several difficult periods and collapsed only due to the decrease in the interest of management in the activities of the bank as such.

Cash withdrawal from agent banks: reviews

Resigned to the fact that "Gorod Bank" became bankrupt, customers actively began to "storm" the offices of agent banks to get their money back. But in some cases, they were unable to complete the operation.

The largest number of refusals occurred when customers chose the wrong office where they needed to write an application. Despite these banks ("Rosselkhozbank" and "VTB 24"), it is not possible to receive a refund in all territorial branches in the city.

The Deposit Insurance Agency provided an opportunity to return funds to former depositors in 12 regions of the country. The list of regions is on the agency website.

If customers have problems getting cash, they can file a claim on the website of the Deposit Insurance Agency. Based on the results of the study of refusals, the commission may take strict measures against branches and employees who unreasonably refused to pay insurance compensation to clients of a bankrupt bank.

As practice shows, categorical unreasonable refusals do not occur in agent banks. Temporary difficulties, according to reviews of Bank Gorod, arise for customers due to an incomplete set of documents or a failure in the bank's software.

Opinion of employees about work in "Gorod Bank"

Bank employees always learn about the financial situation earlier. And Bank City was no exception. At the request of the management in November 2015, the acceptance of payments was suspended, but the bank employees did not have the right to report the true reason for the failure in work. At that time, all specialists were aware that the bank was experiencing serious financial problems, which were the reason for the shutdownbranches.

In the reviews of employees about Bank Gorod, you can now read the working conditions proposed by the employer. The salaries of employees were average, by the standards of the banking sector. The company's offices were equipped with the necessary equipment and stationery.

The Bank Gorod managers had a regular working day. Due to the presence of a social package, vacation and sick leave were paid in accordance with the requirements of the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. In reviews of Bank Gorod JSC, employees wrote that the programs for working with clients were of average quality, but this did not cause inconvenience in the process of work.

Reviews of employees about the bankruptcy of a financial institution

Employees were among the first to learn about the company's impending crisis. They were instructed not to accept payments and not to disclose information about the current financial situation. This led to the dissatisfaction of depositors who asked the bank's managers 2-3 weeks before its bankruptcy about the safety of invested funds. According to reviews, employees did not have the right to talk about Bank Gorod as a future bankrupt until an official decision was made by the Central Bank of Russia.

But after crackdown on the lender's license, workers' opinion of the company has deteriorated. Since the management could not influence their work due to the bankruptcy of the bank, the employees spoke out boldly in their reviews of Bank Gorod from Vorkuta. They pointed to violations in the issuance of loans, execution of mortgage agreements.

Managerswrote that they suspected the illegal withdrawal of the bank's assets abroad, but did not have access to the information. After the bankruptcy, the feedback from employees helped prosecutors to establish the fact of fraud in some transactions at Bank Gorod. Financial crime investigation continues.