Absolut Bank was registered in April 1993. The main owners for a long time were Moscow entrepreneurs Alexander Svetakov, Gleb Galin and Andrey Truskov*.
The International Finance Corporation (IFC, the investment arm of the World Bank) became a shareholder of Absolut in December 2005, purchasing a 7.51% stake for $10 million. In April 2007, 92.5% of the bank's shares were acquired by the Belgian financial group KBC at a price of 3.8-4.1 capital (USD 1 billion). This transaction is still one of the most expensive mergers and acquisitions for the Russian banking market.
Subsequently, KBC Group received full control of Absolut Bank. At the end of 2012, the group, following the instructions of the European Central Bank, began a long-planned transaction for the sale of Absolut Bank, which was closed in May 2013 after agreement with the Bank of Russia. According to the previously announced terms of the deal, companies affiliated with Blagosostoyanie had to not only pay 300 million euros for Absolut Bank shares, but also provide it with funding of 700 million euros (about 28 billion rubles).
In the fall of 2013, it became known about the planned transaction to merge KIT Finance Bank (a controlling stake of which also belongs to NPF Blagosostoyanie) to Absolut Bank. The official merger procedure was launched in early 2014, and by the end of April of that year the deal was closed. On April 18, 2014, the merged bank began operating under the Absolut brand. Control over the merged bank JSCB Absolut Bank (OJSC) was retained by NPF Blagosostoyanie. During the reorganization process, an additional issue of 69,705,428 ordinary shares of the bank with a par value of 10 rubles each was carried out. Thus, the authorized capital of Absolut Bank was increased from 2,455 million rubles to 3,152 million rubles. The shares were placed by converting ordinary registered uncertificated shares of KIT Finance Investment Bank OJSC into them.
In April 2015, the DIA board of directors approved the bank’s application to receive 6 billion rubles through the OFZ mechanism. In July 2015, the bank received OFZ in the amount of 6 billion rubles, thus increasing its second-tier capital, calculated in accordance with the requirements of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and the Basel Committee. The funds received were used to expand lending to corporate borrowers and mortgages.
Since December 2015, Absolut Bank has been participating in the process of rehabilitation of PJSC Baltinvestbank. As part of these activities, the DIA provided the bank with a loan in the amount of 11 billion rubles at 0.51% per annum for a period of ten years.
Currently, NPF Blagosostoyanie, through its subsidiaries and dependent structures (PJSC United Credit Systems, JSC UK Trinfico, JSC UK TFG, CJSC Leader, etc.) controls over 90% of the shares in the capital of Absolut Bank.
The head office of the credit institution is located in Moscow. The bank's network of branches includes 29 additional offices and 30 operational offices located in St. Petersburg, Chelyabinsk, Perm, Tyumen, Ufa, Yekaterinburg, Samara, Kazan, Nizhny Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, Krasnodar, Novosibirsk, Omsk, Kemerovo, Magnitogorsk , Sterlitamak, Tolyatti and other cities. Over one hundred ATMs are available to customers. According to the annual report for 2017, the average number of bank staff exceeded 2 thousand people.
In the explanatory information to the financial statements for the nine months of 2017, the bank notes that it is focused on serving medium-sized businesses, their owners and employees, as well as wealthy private clients. The services of a credit institution for corporate business are represented by cash settlement services, lending, remote servicing, acquiring, corporate cards and payroll projects, collection, conversion operations, trade and project financing, leasing and factoring, SME Bank lending programs, banking support for contracts, issuance of guarantees and letters of credit, placement of funds, investment services. Individuals (including through the line of Baltinvestbank PJSC) are offered cash loans, mortgages (including with state support), deposits and investment services, bank cards (Visa), payments and money transfers.
According to the bank's annual report for 2017, the total number of clients of the credit institution in the corporate business was 27.5 thousand at the end of the year, in the retail business - 197.9 thousand clients, in the private banking block - 2.3 thousand clients . According to IFRS reporting for the first half of 2018, the corporate loan portfolio is dominated by enterprises operating in such industries as manufacturing (26.6%), construction (23.8%), trade (20.8%) and financial services (18 .6%).
Among the largest clients in the corporate loan portfolio, the bank in the annual report for 2016 highlighted YuG Energo, the Metafrax group of companies, LSR, Ladoga, Kortros, Vesper, Konar, OCS, PGK, Mosgiprotrans, Rusal ", "Slavneft", "TEK Mosenergo", "Samaratransneft-Terminal", "Neftegazindustriya", "Antipinsky Oil Refinery", "Seryozha", "Asteros", as well as KNGK, ChelPipe, PJSC "MTS". Absolut Bank continues to expand cooperation with JSC Russian Railways and its subsidiaries and affiliates. In particular, in 2016, FGK JSC began to place temporarily available funds for fixed-term instruments in the bank. The priority areas of work for the bank in partnership with Russian Railways are factoring suppliers and contractors of JSC Russian Railways, providing subsidiaries and affiliates of JSC Russian Railways with leasing products through a leasing company. The Bank also cooperates with such subsidiaries and dependent companies of JSC Russian Railways as JSC Russian Railways Logistics, JSC Trading House Russian Railways, JSC TransContainer, CJSC TransTeleCom Company, JSC ELTEZA, LLC ORTSV, Center for Corporate management of the suburban complex of JSC Russian Railways, JSC NIIAS, etc. In addition, Absolut Bank cooperates on an ongoing basis with the largest private railway operators. Among the corporate clients on the bank's website, the State Unitary Enterprise MO Mosoblgaz, the chain of stores Starik Hottabych, the Carlo Pasolini Group of Companies, the Independent Bureau of Mortgage Lending LLC, the Borsky Pipe Plant OJSC, the Renaissance Insurance company, and the “Rive Gauche”, “Belaya Dacha”, “Credit and financial consultant”, etc.
The volume of net assets of the credit institution has decreased since the beginning of the year by 1.6% (or 4.3 billion rubles), amounting to 273.2 billion rubles as of 02/01/2019.
The decrease in the balance sheet currency is primarily due to the outflow of funds raised on the interbank lending market, which led to a reduction in the bank's resource base. In the active part of the balance sheet, the main reduction affected items in the total loan portfolio and issued interbank loans.
The structure of the credit institution's liabilities is satisfactorily diversified by sources of attraction and is highly dependent on funds from individuals, whose share as of the reporting date amounted to 38.1% of the credit institution's total net liabilities. During the period under review, the structure of liabilities underwent the following changes:
The share of funds raised from individuals in liabilities decreased from 38.2% to 38.1%, while their nominal volume decreased by 1.9 billion rubles;
The share of attracted funds from legal entities in liabilities increased from 31.1% to 32.3%, while their nominal volume increased by 1.9 billion rubles;
The share of funds raised from banks in liabilities decreased from 2.7% to 1.7%, while their nominal volume decreased by 3.1 billion rubles;
The share of own issued securities in liabilities decreased from 2.5% to 2.4%, while their nominal volume decreased by 242.6 million rubles.
The volume of the credit institution's own funds as of February 1, 2019 amounted to 26.9 billion rubles; since the beginning of the year, this figure has decreased by 1% (or 265.2 million rubles). The shares of own and borrowed funds as of the reporting date are 9.8% and 90.2%, respectively. It is worth noting that capital includes subordinated debt, the residual value of which as of the reporting date is 8.8 billion rubles. The equity adequacy ratio (N1.0) as of the reporting date is met with a reserve, amounting to 12.03% (with a minimum of 8%).
The main volume of the credit institution's assets falls on the loan portfolio item, which at the reporting date forms 46.1% of net assets. The shares of assets generating interest income and other assets as of 02/01/2019 are 79.5% and 20.5%, respectively.
During the period under review, the asset structure underwent the following changes:
The share of investments in the total loan portfolio decreased from 48% to 46.1%, while their nominal volume decreased by 7.2 billion rubles;
The share of investments in the securities portfolio increased from 10.3% to 10.5%, while their nominal volume increased by 262.8 million rubles;
The share of issued interbank loans decreased from 23.6% to 22.9%, while their nominal volume decreased by 2.9 billion rubles;
The share of highly liquid assets increased from 3.6% to 6.3%, while their nominal volume increased by 7.2 billion rubles;
The share of other assets decreased from 10% to 9.5%, while their nominal volume decreased by 2 billion rubles.
As of the reporting date, the total loan portfolio of the financial institution is 125.9 billion rubles. Since the beginning of the year, its volume has decreased by 7.2 billion rubles (or 5.4%). The main share of the loan portfolio falls on loans provided to individuals - 65.1%. The loan portfolio is predominantly long-term: the share of loans issued for a period of more than one year is 84.4%. During the analyzed period, the level of overdue debt in the total portfolio increased from 6.4% to 8.2%. At the same time, the reserve level for the loan portfolio is 13.5%, which fully covers the amount of overdue debt. The value of property pledged as collateral for loans is 99.3 billion rubles (78.9% of the loan portfolio).
In the interbank market, a credit institution works in both directions. The volume of allocated funds as of February 1, 2019 is 62.4 billion rubles. The volume of funds raised as of February 1, 2019 is 4.8 billion rubles. The financial institution is highly active in the foreign exchange market; turnover on conversion operations at the end of the last month was at the level of 668.7 billion rubles.
According to RAS reporting data, at the end of 2018, the credit institution received a loss of 8.2 billion rubles. Based on the results of the first month of 2019, the credit institution shows a profit of 4.1 billion rubles.
Board of Directors: Anatoly Milyukov (chairman), Andrey Golikov, Vartan Dilanyan, Konstantin Lyulchev, Tatyana Ushkova, Inga Tsarenkova, Konstantin Cherkasov, Victor Shendrik.
Governing body: Tatyana Ushkova (chairman), Andrey Boguslavsky, Natalya Kapinos, Vladislav Poltavsky, Anatoly Vogelgesang, Alexander Chukhlantsev.
* After changes in the shareholder structure that occurred at the beginning of 2007, Alexander Svetakov’s share increased to 51.58% of the shares. A share of 40.91% was owned by Gleb Galin, Andrey Truskov, senior deputy chairman Mikhail Serdtsev and executive director of the Absolut group Andrey Kosolapov.
Analytical center Banki.ru
Founded in 1993, Absolut Bank is today one of the most client-oriented and modern financial organizations in the country. The entire range of bank products and services fully complies with international standards. In addition, a special support center allows you to serve clients around the clock to provide the necessary information and assistance regarding all bank services.
The main functionality of the Absolut Bank support service
By contacting the contact center consultants in any convenient way, bank clients can:
- Get the necessary information about all products and services offered by the bank;
- Check the current balance of your card or account, as well as find out about the latest transfers of funds;
- Find out the exact amount of the balance of the loan debt and the date of the last repayments;
- Submit an application for the maximum available loan amount;
- Block a bank card if it is lost or stolen;
- Get detailed information about the deposit amount and accrued interest;
- Get advice on self-service issues in online banking;
- Find out the opening hours and addresses of branches or ATMs;
- Submit a request regarding the quality of customer service by bank employees.
