OREANDA-NEWS. April 08, 2010. Petersburg Social Commercial Bank, OJSC (hereinafter, PSCB) headquartered in St. Petersburg is a universal commercial bank, successfully working in the banking services market since 1993. The Bank performs the whole range of banking transactions in the Russian rubles and foreign currencies in St. Petersburg, the Leningrad Region and Moscow SME and private clients. .

Since the end of 2009 the auditing company Moore Stephens Saint-Petersburg (a branch of Moore Stephens Ltd.) has been the Bank official auditor on RAS and IFRS (from 2003 till 2009 the Bank official auditor was PricewaterhouseCoopers). OJSC, PSCB was registered on October 29, 1993 (General License of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation №2551 of May 25, 2006).  PSCB has been a participant of the Deposits Insurance Scheme since 2004 (registration No. 177 under the Register, date of registration: 18 November 2004).  Since September 14, 2007 RenFin Fund, the investment fund of the company Renaissance Investment Management (international investment-banking group Renaissance Group, http://www.renaissancegroup.com/) has been an international shareholder  holding 20% minus one share of the voting shares of Petersburg Social Commercial Bank, OJSC). 

During 2009 the management of PSCB continued to implement the Bank Business Development Strategy set by the shareholders, the Bank operation  being stable and progressively developing.

Successful business activity in 2009 and growth of the key financial figures confirm operation effectiveness, financial stability and growth of investment attractiveness of PSCB.

The dynamics of Net Profit calculated in accordance with IFRS is one of the indicators of the Bank successful operation,. Despite crisis developments in the economy,  the Bank succeed in increasing Net Profit by more than 162%according to IFRS in comparison with the previous year, thus Net Profit amounted to RUB 255 mln (in 2008 Net Profit according to IFRS was RUB 97 mln). Accordingly, Profit before Tax increased by 135% for 2009 and reached RUB 317 mln in comparison with Profit before Tax equal to RUB 135 mln of in 2008.

It should be noted that this profit growth has been conditioned by the Bank high Net Interest Income after allowance for loan impairment and commission income according to IFRS, as well as by decrease of administrative and other costs. Net Interest Income after allowance for loan impairment increased by 13% for 2009 and amounted to RUB 309 mln (which equaled RUB 272 mln in 2008), commission income increased by 29% and amounted to RUB 347 mln for 2009 (which equaled RUB 269 mln in 2008). Administrative and other costs have decreased by 14% and amounted to RUB 354 mln (which equaled RUB 412 mln in 2008).

The Bank’s Total Assets increased by 12% in comparison with 2008 and amounted to RUB 8 447 mln as of  December 31, 2009.

The Bank’s Equity according to IFRS increased by 13% as of December 31, 2009 and totaled RUB 1 370 Mln in comparison with RUB 1 212 mln as of December, 31 2008.

The Bank’s Loans and Advances to Customers amounted to RUB 2 799 mln as of December 31, 2009.

Within the period starting from December, 31 2008 till December 31, 2009 the Customer Accounts  increased by 16%  thus having exceeded RUB 6 916 mln.

On March 5, 2010 the International Rating Agency Fitch Ratings Ltd. inscribed the ratings of PSCB, OJSC in Rating Watch "Positive", along with ratings of the 12 leading Russian banks. According to the official press-release, issued on  March 5, 2010 Fitch Ratings Ltd. will be making the final decisions regarding exclusion of ratings from the Rating Watch and ratings potential improvements after having studied the current financial position and perspectives of every bank  individually ( the same applicable to PSCB, OJSC). In the majority of cases ratings upgrade will be limited by one level only. Fitch is expecting to accomplish this analysis within the next three months.

There should be noted that PSCB, OJSC has the following global and national ratings, confirmed by International Rating Agency Moody's Investors Service Inc. in 2009:

Table 1 – Ratings by Fitch Ratings Ltd., affirmed on March 5, 2010

Rating

Value

Long-term IDR

"B-",  placed on Rating Watch Positive

Short-term IDR:

affirmed at 'B'

 

National Long-term Rating:

 

'BB-(rus)'; placed on Rating Watch Positive

Individual Rating:

D/E'; placed on Rating Watch Positive

Support Rating:

 

affirmed at '5'

Support Rating Floor:

 

affirmed at

'No floor'

Table 2 – Ratings by Moody's Investors Service Inc., affirmed on 13th October 2009.

Rating

Value

Long-term Deposits Rating in international and local currency

‘B3‘, affirmed

Short-term Deposits Rating in international and local currency

‘Not Prime (NP)’, affirmed

Financial Stability Rating (BFSR)

‘E+’, affirmed

All-ratings forecast

 

‘Stable’

Long-term Credit Rating by the national scale

‘Baa3.ru’, affirmed

In the opinion of Bank management the improvement of global and national ratings and rating forecasts of PSCB contributes to developments in the Bank clarity and openness vital for international investors, to improvement of international business alliances of the Bank and attraction of long-term financial resources and credit lines from international creditors with more beneficial conditions evidencing the Bank reliability enhancement.

The Bank long-term cooperation with the international rating agencies Fitch Ratings Ltd. and Moody's Investors Service Inc. contributes to the Bank successful operation in the global financial markets and implementation of international trade finance projects to the benefit of the Bank Russian and foreign clients.

The stability of PSCB, OJSC is confirmed by the Russian mass-media, as of January 1, 2010 the Bank is ranked:

211st position in the Rating "Top500 Banks in Terms of Net Assets in 2009" (RBC. Rating);

111st position in the Rating "Top500 Banks in Terms of Liquid Assets in 2009" (RBC. Rating);

240th position in the Rating "Top500 Banks in Terms of Loan Portfolio in 2009" (RBC. Rating);

175th position in the Rating "Top500 Banks in Terms of Deposit Portfolio in 2009" (RBC. Rating);

110th position in the Rating "Top500 Banks in Terms of Profitable Banks in 2009" (RBC. Rating).