June 24, 2004
MosNews

The liquidity crisis, which had supposedly been resolved, is spreading to more banks. Yesterday MosNews reported about the Dialog-Optim bank and Commercial Savings Bank which had limited or ceased their operations. Today another bank, Promeximbank, joined their ranks.

As was reported yesterday, Dialog-Optim bank limited payouts on personal deposits to 10,000 rubles ($345) a day, regardless of the total sum of the deposit. But as the Kommersant daily reported today, organizations and legal entities are also suffering from non-payments by the bank. One of Dialog-Optimís corporate clients told the newspaper that heís been unable to withdraw money to pay staff salaries since June 8. A financial director of another company said that the bank has not made a payment on an electricity bill dated June 7. ìThe payment just didnít go through,î said the newspaperís source. The Chairman of Dialog-Optimís board, Sergei Garber, refused to comment on the situation, but said that ìthe bank did not address the Central Bank with a request for a stabilization creditî and confirmed that it will use its own assets in order to settle accounts with clients.

The banking community is much more worried by the news that the rather large Promeximbank has also stopped all payments, because its bonds and bills of collection were quite popular among other banks. At the end of last week rumors surfaced that 80 percent of the bankís staff had been fired. The price of Promeximbankís bonds fell from 100 percent to 70 percent of their face value. For a second day in a row there is no one in the bank except a secretary who says that the management ìis holding consultations out of the bankís premisesî and that no comments can be given regarding the current situation.

Meanwhile Britainís Financial Times, quoting unnamed sources in the Russian banking community, reported today that other Russian banks are selling off long-term assets and hoarding cash in order to stave off a progressing liquidity crisis.

www.mosnews.com

Edited by: Watchman72047 at: 7/4/04 4:32 pm

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