Post Bank (Russia)

(Redirected from Pochta Bank)

The Post Bank (Pochta Bank pronunciation, in Russian: Публичное акционерное общество «Почта Банк») is a Russian PAO consumer bank founded on January 28, 2016, and obtained a license from the Central Bank of Russia for banking operations No. 650 on March 25, 2016. It was previously the Leto Bank ("Summer Bank" in Russian: Лето Банк) under VTB24 (Russian: ВТБ24 (ПАО)). Prior to that, it was the "Bezhitsa-Bank" (Russian: Бежица-Банк) in Bryansk. The company's headquarters are in Moscow.

Pochta Bank
Company typePublic company (Joint-stock company)
IndustryFinancial services
Founded25 March 2016; 8 years ago (2016-03-25)[1]
HeadquartersMoscow, Russia
Key people
Alexander Pakhomov, President & Chairman of the Board[2]
ProductsRetail banking
OwnerVTB Bank 50% minus one share
Russian Post 50% minus one share
Alexander Pakhomov 2 shares
WebsitePochtaBank.ru

History edit

In 2012, lawyer Dmitry Tretyakov from Tolyatti proposed the Federal Property Management Agency to create the "VTB Post Bank of Russia Post Bank". According to Dmitry Tretyakov, his project involved the modernization of post offices at the expense of VTB Bank. Earlier, according to the lawyer, the Finnish company Itella and the French La Poste were interested in such cooperation.[3][4][5][6]

On July 31, 2013, Kirill Dmitriev, who is the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), sent a letter to both his close friend Kirill Shamalov, who was the son-in-law of Vladimir Putin at the time, and Ksenia Yudaeva (Russian: Ксения Юдаева), who headed the expert directorate of the President of Russia at the time. In the letter, Dmitriev had minutes of a meeting about establishing a postal bank.[7]

July 24, 2015: Approved by Dmitry Anatolyevich Medvedev, an agreement was signed between the bank president, Director of Russian Post, Dmitry Evgenevich Strashnov, and Minister of Communications and Mass Media, Nikolay Anatolievich Nikiforov, for the Russian Post to purchase for 5 billion rubles a stake of 50% minus 1 share of Leto Bank (Summer Bank) from VTB24, with the purpose of reorganizing it into the National Post Bank. The remaining stake of 50% plus one share will be owned by VTB24, a subsidiary of VTB Bank and VTB Group. VTB CEO Andrey Leonidovich Kostin suggested appointing Dmitry Rudenko, the current head of Leto Bank, as the head of Post Bank (Russia).[8]

January 28, 2016: a set of documents was signed between VTB24 and Russian Post on establishing the Post Bank (Russia). Russian Post purchased 50% minus 1 share of the newly established Post Bank (Russia) through its 100% subsidiary. The remaining 50% plus one share is owned by VTB24 of VTB Bank. Dmitry Rudenko, the head of Leto Bank of VTB24, became the head of Post Bank (Russia).[9][10][11]

December 22, 2017: Post Bank (Russia) announces that President-Chairman of the Board of VTB24, Mikhail Zadornov, and the board member of VTB24, Alexander Sokolov, will step down. Both Zadornov, as chairman of the board, and Sokolov, as temporary chairman of the board until Zadornov arrives, become members of the management board of Otkritie FC Bank.[12] Post Bank (Russia) announces that the president and chairman of the board of VTB Bank, Andrey Kostin, as well as senior vice-presidents of VTB Bank, Dmitry Pianov and Vladimir Levykin, will be placed on Post Bank (Russia) supervisory board.

December 27, 2017: VTB's supervisory board sells to Post Bank (Russia) a 74.7% stake in the limited liability company Multicard, MultiCard, or MultiKarta (Russian: МультиКарта) "with a par value of 112,420,993 rubles at a price not lower than the market price."[13]

December 28, 2017: VTB24 sells two shares to Dmitry Rudenko, the chairman of the board of Post Bank (Russia). VTB 24 and Russia Post have equal shares in Post Bank (Russia): each have 50% minus one share.[14][15]

January 1, 2018: VTB transfers VTB24 fully into VTB Bank.[16][17]

In October 2021 Post Bank sold the Multicard company to T1 Group [ru].[18] Since 2022, Post Bank has been headed by Alexander Pakhomov, former principal of network and retail business unit of Otkritie FC Bank.[2]

Sanctions edit

Placed upon the parent banks of Post Bank (Russia) are sanctions to the VTB Group and its subsidiaries. These sanctions also apply to Post Bank (Russia) upon its formation in 2016.[citation needed]

July 29, 2014: the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) published that “the VTB Group”, VTB Bank OAO, which is the second-largest bank in Russia, together with its subsidiaries, the Bank of Moscow through its parent bank, VTB Bank OAO, VTB24, and other entities under its ownership have been added to the Specially Designated Nationals List (SDN).[19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26] This freezes the assets in the United States of VTB, VTB Global, Bank of Moscow, and other entities; and blocks any United States citizen or entities from conducting business with VTB, VTB Global, Bank of Moscow, and other entities.

July 31, 2014: VTB was added to the European Union sanctions list due to its role in the 2014 Crimean crisis.[27] VTB assets and its subsidiaries in the EU have to be frozen.

August 27, 2014: VTB Bank, VTB24, and VTB Group and their subsidiaries as well as all Russian financial institutions are under sanctions in Switzerland because of Russian interference in Ukraine.[28]

December 22, 2015: United States imposed additional sanctions on VTB Bank and its subsidiaries.[22][26][29][30][31] In November 2023 the Post Bank was sanctioned by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) under E.O. 14024 for operating or having operated in the financial services sector of the Russian Federation economy.[32]

March 15, 2017: Ukraine imposed sanctions against VTB Bank and subsidiaries because of the ongoing Russian interference in Ukraine.[33][34]

Shareholders edit

As of January 28, 2016, its only two shareholders were VTB24 (Russian: ВТБ 24) 50% plus one share and Russian Post (Russian: Почта России, Pochta Rossii) 50% minus one share.[9]

In December 2017, VTB sold two shares in Post Bank (~0,000012%) to its president, Dmitry Rudenko, formally reducing its stake below 50% to protect the subsidiary bank from sanctions.[35]

In September 2021, before Rudenko stepped down as president of Postbank, VTB regained control. VTB management at that moment considered that the risk of sanctions had decreased.[36]

In February 2022, VTB again sold two shares of Post Bank to its president, this time to Alexander Pakhomov. Now both majority shareholders have less than 50 percent of the shares.[37]

MultiCard edit

From December 2017 to October 2021, Post-Bank owned a majority stake of a 74.7% in the limited liability company Multicard, MultiCard, or MultiKarta (Russian: МультиКарта)[13] "Multicard" represents a wide range of high-tech services for companies of the banking industry: processing and personalization of plastic cards of all major international payment systems, ATM network service, cross-selling in online channels, geolocation, and many other solutions.[13] Currently, the company owned by T1 Group [ru] and provides services to more than 60 Russian and foreign banks.[13]

History edit

Established in 1994 in Moscow, the limited liability company MultiCard (Russian: ООО «МультиКарта») received certification in the late 1990s as a third party payment system to interact with the international payment systems of Visa, Europay International, MasterCard, American Express, and Diners Club.[38] In October 2014, Multicard met the requirements for the federal law #161-fz dated June 27, 2011, "On the National Payment System".[38] Following the order #1306-r dated July 15, 2014, for the Bank of Russia to create nationally significant payment systems in Russia, MultiCard which is the payment processing system for VTB24 of the VTB Group met the security requirements in March 2015 and did not have to transfer its processing to the National System for Payment Cards (NSPC) (Russian: Национальная система платёжных карт ОАО «НСПК»). As of March 2018, MuliCard provides processing for the VTB Group, VTB Bank, and Post Bank.[38][39]

In October 2021 Post Bank sold the Multicard company to T1 Group.[18]

Sanctions edit

On December 22, 2015, the United States under EO13662 placed MultiCard[a] on the United States Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) Sectoral Sanctions Identifications List which prohibits United States citizens, companies, or other entities from investing in MultiCard or conducting business with MultiCard and freezes any of MultiCard's assets in the United States.[26][30]

See also edit

Notes edit

  1. ^ For the United States Sectoral Sanctions List, MultiCard was named as MULTICARTA (a.k.a. MULTICARTA, LTD; a.k.a. MULTIKARTA, OOO; a.k.a. OBSHCHESTVO S OGRANICHENNOI OTVETSTVENNOSTYU MULTIKARTA), d. 43 korp. 1 ul. Vorontsovskaya, Moscow 109147, Russia; Website www.multicarta.ru[30]

References edit

  1. ^ "Публичное акционерное общество "Почта Банк"" [Public Joint Stock Company "Pochta Bank"]. Central Bank of Russia (www.cbr.ru) website (in Russian). March 25, 2016. Retrieved February 17, 2018.
  2. ^ a b "Александр Пахомов вступил в должность главы Почта Банка". banki.ru (in Russian). January 11, 2022.
  3. ^ VTB overwhelmed "Russian Post"
  4. ^ ВТБ посоветовали объединиться с "Почтой России"
  5. ^ Federal Property Management Agency offers VTB to create a bank with Russian Post
  6. ^ The Togliatti project on the establishment of the Postal Bank has been implemented in practice: details
  7. ^ Anin, Roman; Marokhovskaya, Alesya; Dolinina, Irina; Velikovsky, Dmitry; Savina, Sonya; Shmagun, Olesya; Shleinov, Roman; Dmitriev, Denis (December 7, 2020). "Кирилл и Катя: любовь, разлука, офшоры и неограниченный ресурс" [Kirill and Katya: love, separation, offshore and unlimited resources]. istories.media (in Russian). Archived from the original on December 7, 2020. Retrieved January 29, 2021.
  8. ^ Алешкина, Татьяна; Тофанюк, Елена (December 11, 2015). "ВТБ получит за Лето Банк около 5 млрд руб: Как стало известно РБК, "Почта России" купит 50% минус одна акция Лето Банка за 0,86 капитала, сделка может быть закрыта уже в этом году" [VTB will receive about 5 billion rubles for Leto Bank: As it became known to RBC, "Russian Post" will buy 50% minus one share of Leto Bank for 0.86 capital, the deal may be closed this year]. RBC (in Russian). Retrieved February 13, 2018.
  9. ^ a b "В России создан "Почта Банк": "Почта России" и ВТБ24 подписали пакет документов о создании "Почта Банка". В церемонии приняли участие генеральный директор "Почты России" Дмитрий Страшнов и президент – председатель правления ВТБ24 Михаил Задорнов" ["Post Bank" was created in Russia: "Post of Russia" and VTB24 signed a package of documents on the establishment of "Post Bank." The ceremony was attended by General Director of Post of Russia Dmitry Strashnov and President and Chairman of the Board of VTB24 Mikhail Zadornov.]. Post Bank website (in Russian). January 28, 2016. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
  10. ^ "В России создан Почта Банк" [In Russia established Post Bank]. VTB24 website (in Russian). January 27, 2016. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
  11. ^ "Banks: Company Overview of PJSC Post Bank". Bloomberg website. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
  12. ^ "New Management Board of Otkritie FC Bank Elected". Okritie FC Bank website. December 22, 2017. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
  13. ^ a b c d "ВТБ продала Почта банку долю в 74,7% в компании "Мультикарта"" [VTB sold to Post Bank a 74.7% stake in the company "Multicarda"]. finanz.ru (in Russian). TASS. December 27, 2017. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
  14. ^ "ВТБ и "Почта России" стали паритетными владельцами Почта-банка" [VTB and "Russia Post" became parity owners of Post Bank]. RNS.online (in Russian). December 29, 2017. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
  15. ^ "VTB 24: About". VTB 24 website. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
  16. ^ "Banks: Company Overview of Bank VTB 24 Public Joint-Stock Company". Bloomberg. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
  17. ^ "ВТБ завершил присоединение ВТБ24" [VTB completed the merger of VTB24]. VTB website (in Russian). January 8, 2018. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
  18. ^ a b "T1 Group bought a "Multicard"". akm.ru. October 13, 2021.
  19. ^ "Announcement of Additional Treasury Sanctions on Russian Financial Institutions and on a Defense Technology Entity". US Department of the Treasury. July 29, 2014. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
  20. ^ "Sectoral Sanctions Identifications; Kingpin Act Designations; Iran Designations Update; Ukraine-related Designation". US Department of the Treasury. July 29, 2014. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
  21. ^ "Executive Order - Blocking Property of Additional Persons Contributing to the Situation in Ukraine". The White House - Office of the Press Secretary. March 20, 2014. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
  22. ^ a b "Specially Designated Nationals And Blocked Persons List (SDN) Human Readable Lists". United States Department of Treasury. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
  23. ^ "Ukraine conflict: US and EU widen sanctions on Russia". BBC. July 30, 2014. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
  24. ^ President of The United States (March 10, 2014). "Ukraine EO13660" (PDF). Federal Register. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
  25. ^ President of The United States (March 19, 2014). "Ukraine EO13661" (PDF). Federal Register. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
  26. ^ a b c President of The United States (March 24, 2014). "Ukraine EO13662" (PDF). Federal Register. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
  27. ^ "COUNCIL REGULATION (EU) No 833/2014 concerning restrictive measures in view of Russia's actions destabilising the situation in Ukraine". THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION. eur-lex.europa.eu. July 31, 2014. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
  28. ^ Baertschi, Antje (August 27, 2014). "Situation in Ukraine: Federal Council decides on further measures to prevent the circumvention of international sanctions". Switzerland: Federal Administration website. Bern. Archived from the original on September 8, 2014. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
  29. ^ "Treasury Sanctions Individuals and Entities for Sanctions Evasion and Other Activities Related to Russia and Ukraine: Underscores U.S. Commitment To Work With The EU To Maintain The Efficacy Of Existing Sanctions Until Russia Fully Complies With Its International Obligations With Respect To Ukraine". US Department of the Treasury. December 22, 2015. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
  30. ^ a b c "Russia/Ukraine-related Sanctions and Identifications: Specially Designated Nationals List Update". US Department of the Treasury. December 22, 2015. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
  31. ^ "Executive Order - Blocking Property of Additional Persons Contributing to the Situation in Ukraine". The White House - Office of the Press Secretary. Retrieved February 13, 2018.
  32. ^ "Treasury Hardens Sanctions With 130 New Russian Evasion and Military-Industrial Targets". November 2, 2023.
  33. ^ Пороше́нко, Петро́ Олексі́йович (March 15, 2017). "УКАЗ ПРЕЗИДЕНТА УКРАЇНИ №63/2017: Про рішення Ради національної безпеки і оборони України від 15 березня 2017 року Про застосування персональних спеціальних економічних та інших обмежувальних заходів (санкцій)"" [DECREE OF THE PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE No. 63/2017: On the decision of the Council of National Security and Defense of Ukraine dated March 15, 2017 "On the Application of Personal Special Economic and Other Restrictive Measures (Sanctions)"]. President of Ukraine website (in Ukrainian). Retrieved February 28, 2018.
  34. ^ Пороше́нко, Петро́ Олексі́йович (March 16, 2017). "Глава держави затвердив санкції щодо низки російських банків" [The head of state has approved sanctions against a number of Russian banks]. President of Ukraine website (in Ukrainian). Retrieved February 28, 2018.
  35. ^ "ВТБ потерял контроль над "Почта банком"" (in Russian). Vedomosti. January 24, 2018.
  36. ^ "По обратному адресу" (in Russian). Kommersant. August 18, 2021.
  37. ^ "ВТБ продал две акции Почта банка новому главе банка Пахомову" (in Russian). TASS. February 24, 2022.
  38. ^ a b c "Платежная система "МультиКарта"" ["MultiCard" Payment System]. banki.ru website (in Russian). Retrieved February 27, 2018.
  39. ^ "Национально значимая платежная система" [Nationally Significant Payment Systems]. banki.ru website (in Russian). Retrieved February 27, 2018.

External links edit