On July 12, Guta Bank begins accepting requests for deposit return from its clientele, the bank's PR department has told RIA Novosti.
The State Duma, or parliament's lower house, today discussed the current state of affairs at Guta Bank. Addressing the MPs, Central Bank Chair Sergei Ignatyev assured that the situation in the banking sector would soon get back to normal and no financial crisis was looming on the horizon.
Some of the Russian banks, such as Guta Bank and Dialog-Optim, are indeed experiencing difficulties now, but these are isolated cases, Ignatyev stressed. He put those difficulties down to managerial errors, market jitters, and loss of trust within the banking community.
The Liberal Democratic Party MP Alexei Mitrofanov suggested earlier today that the Duma should invite Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, but this idea found no support with his fellow lawmakers. With some of the banks having suspended their operations, tensions among depositors are mounting, Mitrofanov noted. People are gathering outside the headquarters of Guta Bank and Alfa Bank, and there are rumors about Central Bank Vice Chair Kozlov's black list of banks to be denied licenses for serving individual depositors, he remarked. He believes that urgent measures should be taken to dispel the arising fears. "These are serious matters, concerning the interests of millions of people," he emphasized. The MP expressed bewilderment at the fact that a banking crisis was unfolding now that "we have plenty of money."
Duma Speaker Boris Gryzlov is quite optimistic about the banking sector's future. Appearing before reporters after Ignatyev's speech at the State Duma, Gryzlov said he expected the situation to improve substantially in the immediate future. Speaking of Guta Bank, he said the situation surrounding it would be restored to normalcy if the bank signs a takeover deal with Vneshtorgbank. The amount of money Guta Bank may get from Vneshtorgbank under such a deal will be large enough to settle all problems it is currently facing, he explained.
Earlier today, the Central Bank Chair said Vneshtorgbank was ready to provide a loan for Guta to be able to settle all of its outstanding debts.
Meanwhile, Visa International has suspended operations on Guta Bank cards, a Visa spokesperson told RIA. The primary motive behind the decision is to prevent destabilization on the plastic cards market and protect the interests of affiliated banks, he explained.
The National Association of Stock Market Operators, known by its Russian acronym, NAUFOR, yesterday downgraded Guta Bank's credit rating. The NAUFOR agency attributed the move to Guta's failure to meet its obligations to depositors and its recommendation to major depositors that they transfer their accounts to other banks.
Guta, which ranks among the nation's top twenty banks, closed some of its offices to customers Tuesday and had many of the staffers go on forced leave, suggesting they should start looking for a job elsewhere.
Guta Bank's St. Petersburg office was reportedly closed all day Wednesday, with the management citing technical reasons.
Guta's offices in Moscow and Yekaterinburg, in the Ural Mountains, were closed, too. Payments were limited at its Volgograd and Tyumen offices.
Management of Guta's Irkutsk branch office have promised to depositors that they will get their money back shortly, Mikhail Stebikhov, head of the branch, told in a televised interview Wednesday. He claimed that in the region, Guta has large creditors that it could turn to for a bailout. Yet, local analysts express serious doubts that the bank will be able to obtain the necessary amount of money any time soon.
Guta's cashier counters and ATMs that have been closed since Tuesday draw crowds of depositors. Alarmed and exasperated clients gather outside Guta offices for improvised rallies, our Irkutsk correspondent reports.
In the past three years, Guta has been among Russia's top fifteen banks in the amount of capital and among the top twenty in assets.
