The stability and reliability of the bank. financial analysis of the bank ak bars. An investment analyst from Frankfurt predicted the collapse of Ak Bars, and the bank denies What awaits Ak Bars Bank

02.08.2021

Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ak Bars Bank and General Director of Svyazinvestneftekhim Valery Sorokin today held an emergency press conference on behalf of the President of Tatarstan. The reason for the meeting was yesterday's information attacks with a call to withdraw money from accounts and messages about the bank's problems.

The management of Ak Bars Bank denied the information, telling who is behind it and how the bank is actually doing. More details in the material of Realnoe Vremya. Fake authors are the police? At a meeting with journalists, Valery Sorokin immediately tried to explain: where did the rumors about the problems of Ak Bars Bank come from. This morning, the head of Svyazinvestneftekhim was convinced of the fact that fake information about the creditor is circulating in the city with might and main. - As soon as I got into the car, my driver asked me: “Is it true?” AK Bars"Closing?" I realized that since the situation reached the driver, it means that the matter is already serious. I ask him how he knows. No, he did not receive a text message. He was told by a familiar traffic cop. Any decent driver has a familiar traffic cop, otherwise it is difficult for him to live. I even know this traffic cop, but I won't talk, - says Valery Sorokin. According to him, in fact, the source of information is much wider. The fact is that throughout the country, the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs is switching to service at VTB, which sponsors the Dynamo sports society. The lender comprehensively services the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and only in Tatarstan, in the person of Ak Bars, "they resisted this to the last." " AK Bars» The bank issued 1.5 million plastic cards, 600 thousand of which are salaries. 6,600 police officers of Tatarstan also received money on them. If we assume that half of them are married, it turns out that there are about 10,000 primary media who were told that they would receive their salary through another bank, Sorokin explains. Considering the general background in banking since the end of last year, it's not hard to guess what people will conclude. - Naturally, a reasonable person, or, as one of the critics used to say, an "astute reader", immediately understands: this is not a clean matter. Our man is a collectivist, he must warn his friends. Then I tell you as a mathematician: 10 thousand carriers of primary information that something is not right, we take 3 people we know from each. At the 4th step, there will be all the able-bodied population of Kazan, at the 5th step - more than half of the population of Tatarstan through a simple progression, - the chairman of the Ak Bars Board of Directors describes the scheme for disseminating erroneously perceived information. Against the backdrop of the situation with Tatfondbank and a number of other credit institutions, rumors agitated customers in order " AK Bars" Jar. Two more cases with an announcement in a pharmacy about a refusal to serve with an Ak Bars card and make a payment from another bank, allegedly due to a "low rating" Ak Barsa» Sorokin called the intrigues of competitors. There was a case with a call in social networks that the Russians should not carry money to national banks. - And then, according to the scenario of Malakhov's program "Let them talk" - away we go. They opened their mouths wider and forward - they don’t listen to anyone. Even now, I think more than half of the comments on my speech will come down to the fact that the bank is lying. Because our Soviet people are used to reading newspapers between the lines,” Sorokin complained. For his part, the head of Svyazinvestneftekhim advised clients “ Ak Barsa» "to be friends with the head" and analyze the performance of the bank. The lender does not intend to file a complaint about information attacks with the Ministry of Internal Affairs, considering the authors of fakes not specific people, but “a multi-headed hydra.” « AK Bars» from the TFB crisis both won and lost It's all about how to measure winnings, explains Sorokin. Since December last year, Ak Barsa» There is a steady influx of deposits from individuals. - What can be called success? If this is a success, then this situation is probably developing successfully. Although we already talked about this in December, we assumed a certain rebound from the situation and prepared for this - what I called - to charge ATMs to capacity. What, in fact, is happening now, - says the Chairman of the Board of Directors " Ak Barsa". At the same time, there are clients who nevertheless succumbed to panic and took their deposits ahead of schedule. Nevertheless, the influx of new depositors significantly exceeds the outflow. So, over the past three days, no more than 900 deposits were closed, almost 3,000 new ones were opened, and about 14 million rubles of unpaid interest on early withdrawn deposits remained in the bank. - One client comes and says: “ And they told me that the bank had 2 days left. In 2 days, if you don’t have time to remove it, it will be - you know how". Well, how to convince him? Only without paying him a percentage, - Valery Sorokin gives an example. At the same time, according to him, as of December 1 last year, the total amount of deposits of individuals in the bank was 104.165 million rubles, and on February 1 of this year - 112.395 million. Valery Sorokin himself became a client of 5 banks as an experiment in order to study how colleagues work . In this kind of rating, in his opinion, “ AK Bars took a solid middle ground. « There is no such tap - to drink dry rivers» Valery Sorokin called the situation with the TFB and a number of other Tatarstan banks typical for the entire banking system in Russia and cited as an example the words of the head of the Central Bank of Russia that Russia would need a few more years to “clear the banks”. To the question of how to restore confidence in regional banks in Tatarstan, the guide " AK Bars a "answered unambiguously:" Work". - I do not see any unique opportunities for the local banking community. There is no separate tap with money - to drink dry rivers. The market is competitive, you have to compete with heavyweights. Everyone has to look for some kind of niche, explains Sorokin. Question: did the National Bank do everything to stop the problem, the interlocutor left unanswered. As well as a request to tell what the government of Tatarstan is doing to reorganize Tatfondbank. - I don't have the mandate to comment on the position of the government, don't misunderstand me. The only thing I can ask you is to rewind and see from what moment the propaganda began that Tatfondbank is government? - Valery Sorokin answered a question with a question. In the memory of journalists, such information appeared in the fall. But the chapter Svyazinvestneftekhim” urged to take into account that the bank had existed for a long time before that. Propaganda was deliberate, Sorokin hinted: - Obviously, in the mass consciousness of the same depositors, a bank with state participation is more credible than a bank with private participation. - To attract more investors? the press asked. - I can only assume, I can not comment on it, - summed up Valery Sorokin. Photo: tatar-inform.ru

Latest Tatarstan news on the topic:
Valery Sorokin: “My driver asked me: “Is it true that Ak Bars is closing?”

Valery Sorokin: “My driver asked me: “Is it true that Ak Bars is closing?”- Kazan

Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ak Bars Bank and General Director of Svyazinvestneftekhim Valery Sorokin today held an emergency press conference on behalf of the President of Tatarstan.
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Valery Sorokin on the "anatomy" of attacks on AK BARS: "I don't think there is a Doctor Evil, but..."- Kazan

The head of SINH explained why the security forces were taken to VTB, what would happen when "the nix calms down", and why the "Ministry of Everything" is not under his command.
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Valery Sorokin announced the plans of JSC Svyazinvestneftekhim to buy out the majority of the additional share issue of Ak Bars Bank.
20:06 16.02.2017 IA Tatar-inform

The head of the board of directors of Ak Bars Bank: “There will definitely be people who want to ride the topic”- Bugulma

The history of the emergence of a bank with the formidable name "Ak Bars" - a symbol of the Republic of Tatarstan - dates back to the distant 1993. Over a hundred different banking services provides a public joint-stock company not only to the population of the republic, but also to clients from all over the country. About 25 large branches operate in the regions of Russia, and there are eight branches of the bank in the republic itself. The bank is considered one of the largest in the country, simultaneously serving about three and a half million customers - individuals and more than sixty thousand corporate clients. The largest and most influential exporters of Tatarstan in the petrochemical, chemical, trade, and agricultural sectors are the bank's clients.

Bars-bank news

The banking sector of Tatarstan has been undergoing major upheavals lately, which are associated with a crisis in large banks. Only the recent situation with Tatfondbank () made a lot of noise among its clients and in the media. In early December, Ak Bars Bank itself suffered several information attacks related to the deteriorating situation in the TFB. Then the clients of Bars received viral SMS with a call to urgently withdraw deposits from the organization. But the bank's management assured its users that there were no liquidity problems.- she, according to their assurances, was even more than eight times the required norms. Ak Bars Bank did not confirm the news about its problems and was able to survive the attack with minimal losses.

News of "Ak Bark" bank for today

At the end of December last year, the management of Bars announced the organization's development strategy for the next year. What factors influenced the preparation of the bank's action plan:

  • Dynamic development of non-banking organizations that provide Financial services population;
  • Stable growth of the loan market at a moderate pace - about 6% per year;
  • Tighter supervision of financial activities from the side of the regulator.

In the coming year, Ak Bars took the direction of information, cost-effective, client-centric policy. It is planned to spend a lot of time creating more powerful IT platforms based on the organization, developing a risk management system and mastering new digital services.

"Ak Bars Bank" is not closed

The news of Ak Bars Bank today, which broadcast about the closure of the organization, does not correspond to reality. As the management of the institution assures, in the coming year the bank does not need special measures to maintain its financial stability. Ak Bars Bank, whose problems are rather far-fetched, continues to function as usual, serving customers in full. Even the previously introduced moratorium on the issuance of payments to lenders in Intechbank, a certain percentage of the shares of which Bars owns, will not affect the stability of the latter.

Rumors that Ak Bars is closing are not confirmed and are speculation. Management plans to increase authorized capital and attraction profitable investment to expand the scale of business.

Tatarstan bank "Ak Bars" on the verge of license revocation?

Against the backdrop of the sinking Tatfondbank, residents of the Republic of Tatarstan began to look at other banks, in particular, Ak Bars. One gets the feeling that serious financial problems overtook the second bank of the republican government. Which is not surprising - after all, both Tatfondbank and Ak Bars were ruled for a long time by the same person suspected of withdrawing assets - Robert Musin.

On weekends, queues were observed at the ATMs of the Ak Bars Bank of Tatarstan, as eyewitnesses say. According to bank customers, many left with nothing, Can't withdraw money from card.

In the offices of "Ak Bars" there was too strong an influx of customers even by the standards of New Year's Eve - the majority came to collect their deposits. Until it's too late.

In recent years, the Russian banking market has experienced the "death" of several large banks and hundreds of smaller banks. What is characteristic - for most of them it all started with "minor problems" and a well-played "good mine" towards clients - they say, there is nothing to worry about. And then - "hanging" and missing from the bank's capital money, "burnt" deposits, and so on.

Experts began to suspect that Ak Bars had the same “small problems” that the bank's customers reacted to. Perhaps only those who decide to play it safe and take the money now will be able to save their own savings.

The current year "Ak Bars", most likely, would have ended with a loss, if not for the next budget injections. So, in August of this year, the State Housing Fund of Tatarstan, which owns 25.7% of the bank's shares, actually "filled" 9.8 billion rubles into Ak Bars at the expense of taxpayers' money. And if the Tatarstan bank completed three quarters of the year before last with a loss of 7.49 billion rubles, then the results of three quarters of this year allowed the bank to get into a small plus - only 476 million rubles.

That is, without budget injections, the loss of Ak Bars this year would have become even greater. In addition, investors should be concerned about the fact that the republic simply does not have the funds for new “infusions” into Ak Bars. The lack of free funds manifested itself already at the stage when the republican authorities were offered to participate financially in Tatfondbank, which otherwise would face the revocation of its license. But the government of Rustam Minnikhanov has only one answer -. And without budgetary support, Ak Bars, experts say, will “die” in the near future.

However, it is curious to think - where did all these budget billions, which have already been pumped into Akbars, and which "magically" did not improve the bank's affairs, go?

Musin's trail

Those familiar with the situation claim that the panic among Ak Bars customers did not rise out of nowhere. Recall that in 2002 - 2013, Robert Musin was listed as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ak Bars Bank. This is exactly the same Musin, who on December 15 was removed from the post of chairman of the board of the sinking Tatfondbank.

Participants in the banking sector believe that it was Musin who brought the TFB, which is threatened with either a license revocation or, at best, reorganization, to the state of a “dummy”. In Ak Bars, rumors about a possible merger with the TFB, as possible way rescue "Tatfondbank" responded categorically with a refusal. Is it because Musin, who spent 11 years at the head of Ak Bars, managed to do things in a financial organization?

The banker, we recall, was called the author of schemes for withdrawing money not only from Tatfondbank itself, but also. The bank being rehabilitated actually lost 15 billion rubles, despite the fact that the court refused to satisfy the appeal of the TFB management against the court decision - all 15 billion rubles, as well as interest for using the loan, Tatfondbank owes Sovetsky. There is a solution, but where exactly are these billions now? It is possible that those in whose interests the withdrawal of money from Sovetsky was started only needed to wait for the “death” of the TFB - and there the general confusion will help to “lose” all 15 billion so that they will not return to Sovetsky ...

More importantly, it seems that at the end of last year - the beginning of this year, Robert Musin got rid of Ak Bars shares.

So, in early January 2016, it became known about the change in the composition of shareholders of the largest bank in Tatarstan. The owners of almost a tenth of the bank's shares have changed.

According to rumors, it was Robert Musin who could get rid of Ak Bars shares at that time. And in the summer of 2015, the banks “exchanged” the rights to claim loans. It is noteworthy: at that time, Musin was still a shareholder of both banks, and held the chair of the chairman of the board at Tatfondbank.

More specifically, Ak Bars bought from Tatfondbank the rights to claim loans for almost 2.5 billion rubles. In return, TFB received from Ak Bars the right to claim the debts of Smart Electronics for a total of 856 million rubles. It is noteworthy that the debtor office was part of the DOMO group, control over which was “held” by Musin. That is, Musin really “ran away” from Ak Bars, taking his debts to another bank?

Recall that Mr. Musin knows how to leave in English and not pay off his debts like no one else. Recall the story of a year ago with the bankruptcy of the White Wind Digital retail chain. The company began to show losses, and its owners decided to file for their own bankruptcy. They owed at that time 10 billion rubles. something could have fallen to creditors - the assets of the trading network were then estimated at almost 3 billion rubles. but just before the bankruptcy, a couple of re-registrations were carried out, and now - the bailiffs had nothing to arrest. The BVC did not have any property or money left.

And the owners of this wonderful company, apparently, are a wonderful representative of the Musina family -.

And a man like Musin managed Ak Bars for 11 years. The hasty “escape” of Robert Musin from the bank and the statements of clients about the impossibility of withdrawing money from cards and taking their deposits casts serious suspicions that Ak Bars will soon repeat the history of Tatfondbank.

The regional banking microcrisis continues to hit the banking sector and the economy of Tatarstan. It is not surprising that Ak Bars, the largest bank in this region, attracts special attention. Can he overcome the microcrisis?

The default of Tatfondbank (TFB) led to a regional banking microcrisis. As a result of the crisis, three banks registered in Tatarstan lost their licenses: TFB itself, Intekhbank and Ankor Bank. In Timer Bank and Sovetsky Bank, which were rehabilitated by the TFB, temporary administrations were reintroduced. The revocation of the TFB license caused a surge of social tension in Tatarstan, rallies of "deceived depositors" are taking place. The arrests of the leaders of the TFB and TFB-Finance began, the ex-chairman of the board of the TFB Robert Musin was arrested.

TFB ranked second in terms of assets in banking sector Tatarstan. It is not surprising that now special attention is riveted to the bank that occupies the first place - Ak Bars.

What is the opinion of professional investors regarding the prospects of Ak Bars? The best answer to this question is the yield of bank bonds. For the ruble issue BO-04 (maturity - December 26, 2017), it is at a quite moderate level of about 11% per annum. The bank's Eurobonds (issued by AK BARS Luxembourg S.A.), denominated in US dollars and redeemed in August 2018, yield around 5%.

The bank's performance also does not inspire concern. Capital adequacy ratios are at quite comfortable levels. Thus, as of February 1, 2017, the equity (capital) adequacy ratio H1.0 amounted to 12.35% - 4.35 percentage points above the 8% threshold.

The Bank has created an impressive liquidity cushion: the value of the N2 instant liquidity ratio as of February 1, 2017 was 176.5%, which is significantly higher than the 15% threshold; the value of the current liquidity ratio H3, equal to 539.72%, also significantly exceeds the threshold of 50%.

The liquidity cushion of Ak Bars is: cash in the amount of 8 billion rubles; correspondent account with the Central Bank of the Russian Federation - 8 billion rubles; correspondent accounts in non-resident banks - 2 billion rubles; funds placed in interbank loans and reverse REPO - 27 billion rubles; investments in OFZ - 14 billion rubles; investments in Eurobonds - 47 billion rubles. These assets amount to more than 100 billion rubles, which is more than enough to overcome any "storm".

At the same time, the bank is profitable: net profit for 2016 amounted to 645.7 million rubles, for January 2017 - 56.3 million rubles.

In January 2017, deposits of individuals increased by 3.8 billion rubles, or 3.5%, funds of enterprises and organizations - by 8.5 billion rubles, or 4.1%.

Ak Bars Bank did not have any assets hung either in TFB, or in Intekhbank, or in Ankor Bank, or in Peresvet Bank.

Ak Bars' business is well geographically diversified. Bank branches, in addition to Tatarstan, operate in 18 regions of Russia, including Moscow and St. Petersburg. This geographic diversification enhances the bank's resilience.

Ak Bars is too big to fail (its collapse would have catastrophic consequences), and not only at the regional, but also at the federal level - it ranks 21st in terms of assets in the Russian banking sector. In addition, the share of the government of Tatarstan in the capital of the bank is 76.9% (directly or through structures associated with the government of Tatarstan). Therefore, the probability of the bank's support from the government of Tatarstan is high. Tatneft, through related structures, owns 8.6% of the bank's shares. This large oil company can also provide support to the bank.

Conclusion: Ak Bars is highly likely to withstand the blows of the regional banking microcrisis caused by the TSE default.

P.S. On Friday, March 10, the reporting of Ak Bars under RAS for March 1, 2017 became available - forms 101 (turnover sheet) and 123 (calculation of own funds). She confirms the conclusion that the bank is taking a hit. Indeed, there is a raid of depositors, but it is not critical for the bank: household deposits in February decreased by 4.6%, or by 5.2 billion rubles. But taking into account the growth of deposits in January by 3.8 billion rubles, the outflow for two months did not exceed 1.4 billion rubles. Deposits and other funds raised by legal entities (except for credit institutions) decreased by 2.8%, or by 5.1 billion rubles. The most significant was the outflow of funds of organizations from their settlement and other accounts - the balances on these accounts decreased by 21.5%, or by 8.3 billion rubles. These changes led to a reduction in the bank's liabilities by 4%, or 19 billion rubles. The bank covered the outflow of customer funds mainly by reducing loans, deposits and other placed funds provided to credit institutions by 15.6 billion rubles.

Let's compare these numbers with the size of the bank's assets and its own funds (capital) - 462.3 billion rubles and 68 billion rubles as of March 1, 2017, respectively. We see that for such a large bank as Ak Bars, the blows of the regional microcrisis, although unpleasant, are not critical.

Despite the regional financial crisis, the bank maintained its profitability: profit for January-February 2017 amounted to 113.3 million rubles.

The situation around Ak Bars Bank at the beginning of 2017 was overgrown with numerous rumors, giving rise to panic. After the crisis with the Tatfondbank group and financial difficulties in several other banks of Tatarstan that took place in late 2016 and early 2017, doubts appeared in some media and social networks about the further stability of the banking sector of the Republic of Tatarstan, including the largest bank in the Republic, Ak Bars ".

But recently a "black swan" came to the "leopard" in the form of a downgrade of the bank's credit rating by the global rating agency Fitch from BB- to B with a "negative" outlook

In the second quarter of this year, the situation in the banking sector of the republic stabilized, and Ak Bars Bank presented quite strong financial results for 2016 under IFRS.

It would seem that the panic and gloomy rumors are over. But recently a "black swan" came to the "leopard" in the form of a downgrade of the bank's credit rating by the global rating agency Fitch from BB- to B with a "negative" outlook. Back in December 2016, Fitch downgraded the bank's rating outlook from "stable" to "negative", thereby warning of the likelihood of a downgrade. The bank also has a credit rating from another global rating agency, Moody's. Back in 2015, it assigned the bank a rating of approximately B2, which corresponds to a BB- ​​rating on the Fitch rating scale. It has not lowered the rating forecast yet.

Bank "Ak Bars" (the name of the bank is translated into Russian as "White Leopard") operates on banking market since 1993. The head office of the bank is located in Kazan. For many years the bank has been largest bank in terms of assets in the Republic of Tatarstan, and is currently also in the top 20 largest banks in Russia in terms of assets and in the top 16 Russian banks in terms of equity capital. Ak Bars provides more than 100 types of banking services to legal and individuals. In 2016 credit organisation ranked 18th among all Russian banks in terms of the size of the distribution network, as well as 14th place in the efficiency rating of Russian Internet banks for individuals. It would seem that the status of Ak Bars Bank and its vast experience in the banking market do not even allow one to doubt its reliability. Why was the rating of a reliable bank downgraded?

Rating agencies are often subjective, and this time Fitch in a press release explained the decision of its experts with insufficient financial support for Ak Bars Bank from its majority shareholder, the Republic of Tatarstan. In our opinion, this explanation looks a little strange. Usually, a bank needs additional capitalization if it really has problems related, first of all, to the withdrawal of depositors by depositors. However, in the case of this bank, the situation turned out to be just the opposite.

If on December 1, 2016, the volume of deposits of individuals in Ak Bars Bank was 104.1 billion rubles, then on January 1, 2017 it increased to 108.6 billion, and on February 1 - to 112.3 billion rubles. Moreover, even official representatives of the Bank of Russia in February of this year confirmed that the rumors about the unreliability of the Ak Bars bank are unfounded. As we can see, on the wave of panic associated with the problems of Tatfondbank, given bank even turned out to be a "beneficiary" to some extent.

And at the beginning of the 2nd quarter of 2017, the number of retail clients of the bank was 3.4 million (an increase of 9.6% compared to the beginning of 2016), and 80 thousand corporate clients, which means an increase of 18% compared to the beginning of 2016 of the year. Thus, the rumors about the “flight” of depositors from the bank are not supported by figures.

The Government of Tatarstan, as a shareholder of Ak Bars Bank, began to pay more attention to improving its reliability and preventing the domino effect in the banking system of the republic

It is also important that after the Central Bank revoked the license of the bankrupt Tatfondbank, the government of Tatarstan, as a shareholder of Ak Bars Bank, just began to pay more attention to improving its reliability and preventing a domino effect in the banking system of the republic. The share of the republican authorities in the capital of Ak Bars Bank at the beginning of 2017 was increased from 55% to 77%. At the same time, the increase in the share of the authorities of the republic in the capital of the bank was not accompanied by an additional capitalization of the bank. This was due to the controlling shareholder's belief that the bank had sufficient equity capital to be financially sound. Moreover, at the beginning of this year, the bank underwent a scheduled inspection by the Central Bank, but the Bank of Russia did not reveal any serious violations.

In early March, the head of the Republic of Tatarstan, Rustam Minnikhanov, in an interview with the Tatarstan media, assured minority shareholders and depositors of Ak Bars Bank that there were no problems in the bank at the moment, but at the same time, the government of the republic would do everything possible to save the bank if he will have problems. “All of our budget related funds are located there. Banks have tight controls. Both from the side of the Ministry of Finance (Republic of Tatarstan), and from the side of the Treasury,” Rustam Minnikhanov told the press frankly.

What about the financial performance of the bank? Let's analyze the results of Ak Bars Bank according to its IFRS financial statements for 2016:

in billion rubles

Total assets

Total Liabilities

Equity

Tier 1 capital ratio, %

Capital adequacy ratio, %

From the table above, we see that the key results of Ak Bars Bank for 2016 under IFRS can be called not the most successful. However, it is worth paying attention to the fact that the decrease in assets by almost 9% in 2016 was due, first of all, to a decrease in the total loan portfolio, and the latter decreased due to a decrease in the corporate loan portfolio by almost 24%.

But the decline in corporate lending was partially offset by an 11.4% increase in the retail loan portfolio. The bank experienced a reduction in cash liquidity, which, in principle, is not very desirable for the bank. But the latter was the result of a reduction in the volume of bank operations by stock market, and this is associated with increased risks of such operations. Thus, the reduction in the bank's assets occurred due to a decrease in the number of risky assets. At the same time, the bank's own capital increased by a quarter.

In 2016, the bank's capital adequacy ratio decreased by 4 percentage points (to 14%), however, the value of the indicator exceeds normative value at 8%

In 2016, the bank's capital adequacy ratio decreased by more than 4 percentage points (to 14%), however, the value of the indicator far exceeds the standard value set by the Central Bank of 8%. And the Tier 1 capital ratio increased by 2.1 percentage points. In 2016, Ak Bars Bank generated a net profit of RUB 5.1 billion thanks to increased interest margins and effective cost control.

At the same time, clean cash from operating activities of the bank in 2016 amounted to 19.6 billion rubles, although a year earlier, net cash from operating activities of the bank was negative. Operating income before provisions in 2016 increased by 65% ​​to RUB 33.5 billion. The net interest margin increased from 0.3% in 2015 to 2% in 2016.

For comparison: in 2016, VTB Bank's net interest margin increased to 3.7%, while Sberbank's grew to 5.7%. The bank's indicators are quite comparable with those of the largest systemically important banks, despite the fact that Ak Bars operates in the regional market.

Thus, in our opinion, the bank's performance, adjusted for the crisis year, can be considered satisfactory. It is strange that the rating agency does not pay attention to external factors, which led to just such results, along with the fact that the largest banks of Russia of federal significance for the same year also showed not ideal results.

The bank's share of non-performing loans in the structure of the loan portfolio in 2016 decreased compared to 2015

Moreover, last year the bank seriously restructured "bad" assets and debts. Thus, the bank's share of non-performing loans in the structure of the loan portfolio in 2016 decreased to 1.8% compared to 4.8% in 2015. The share of impaired loans in the loan portfolio decreased to 9.1% compared to 11.6% in 2015.

And, most importantly, the past crisis in the banking sector of Tatarstan, the echoes of which, unfortunately, are felt today, was "man-made". The main reason for the collapse of the Tatfondbank group was its criminal management. Therefore, we believe that the impact of the Tatarstan crisis and its aftermath on Ak Bars was overestimated by Fitch. The bank refused further cooperation with the agency. High-quality banks with a solid business reputation, such as Ak Bars, have worked and continue to work, and the crisis for reliable banks will be one of the opportunities to further increase their competitiveness and attract new customers so that the “black swans” will no longer fly to the “white leopard”.

Estimate:

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