OREANDA-NEWS. August 18, 2010. Members of Sviaz-Bank’s Management Board traveled to St.Petersburg for an expanded Management Board meeting that was attended by Anatoly Tikhonov, Chairman of the Bank’s Board of Directors-First Vice Chairman of Vnesheconombank, Denis Nozdrachev, Sviaz-Bank’s President-Chairman of the Management Board, members of the Bank’s Management Board, and Managers of the Bank’s regional branches. Dmitry Anisimov, Deputy General Director of FSUE Post of Russia, attended the event as a guest of honor, reported the press-centre of Sviaz-Bank.

The meeting participants discussed the performance of the Bank and its branch network in the first six-month period of 2010, formulated the goals and objectives to be achieved in the main business areas in the second six-month period of this year, reviewed management and development of the regional network, and other issues.

Anatoly Tikhonov, Chairman of the Bank’s Board of Directors-First Vice Chairman of Vnesheconombank, said that Sviaz-Bank is developing successfully today and shows high financial performance results, as can be judged from the first six months of this year.

Dmitry Anisimov, Deputy General Director of FSUE Post of Russia, said that Sviaz-Bank was fulfilling the functions of a key bank for the entire postal service on the territory of the Russian Federation as a whole. “Our cooperation on the basis of those existing 1,000 post offices is to expand and extend to greater territories,” he emphasized.

Sviaz-Bank’s branches have been registering positive dynamics since the start of the year, and their performance has improved in both quality and quantity. On July 1, 2010, the Bank branches’ assets had grown to 36.1 billion rubles, including a 60% growth in loans to corporate borrowers. A half of the branch network’s corporate loan portfolio is distributed in three basic areas – power generation, telecommunications, and government authorities.

Since the start of the year, the corporate customers’ funds deposited with the branches have increased by 2.2 billion rubles, to 27.4 billion rubles. The share of businesses in power generation, agriculture, insurance, and finance, to name the more significant industries, has grown appreciably. In the second six-month period of 2010, the Bank will continue to diversify its customer base in various industries.

The branches’ balances in individual accounts, including plastic card accounts, have grown by 45% to 6.2 billion rubles since early 2010. Deposits of the new Reserve line of products reaching over 80% of the portfolio predominate in the structure of the branches’ time deposits. Positive dynamics was first observed in active transactions with individuals in the first six months of the year. In particular, the amount of mortgage loans made topped 300 million rubles, and that of nonpurpose loans exceeded 400 million rubles, which made it possible for the Bank’s branches to increase their loan portfolios for these products by 70%.

According to plans for the second six-month period, programs are to be expanded in mortgage lending, nonpurpose loans, credit card issue, and introduction of new products, which all will make banking services more accessible to residents of Russia’s outlying regions.