OREANDA-NEWS. May 29, 2012. RusRating changed outlook on Millennium Bank’s credit ratings from “stable” to “positive”. The ratings themselves are unchanged at “BBB-” on the national scale and “BB-” on the international scale.

According to the agency, the change in outlook reflects reduced risk sensitivity against the background of falling credit risks and risks to liquidity.

The rating itself is based on the image support provided by RZD Russian Railways plus stable ties to that company’s operating units, subsidiaries and business partners; a healthy capital base; and current liquidity independent of the interbank and securities markets.

Constraining factors include a business narrowly focused on a small number of firms in the transport sector, high exposure to political risks arising from dependence on a prominent state-owned enterprise, and uncertainty about the financial resources of the Bank’s beneficiary owners.

Millennium Bank is a smaller (by assets) private-sector Moscow bank that (according to official documents) has been controlled since 2008 by the privately-owned SK Most Group, RZD Russian Railways’ largest contractor; minority shareholders include a number of Bank executives. The Board of Directors is chaired by RZD Vice-President Oleg Toni and Management Chairman Mikhail Baidakov is an advisor to the President of RZD; Russian Federation senator Sergei Scheblygin, another advisor to RZD’s President, heads the audit commission. The Bank’s core business is the provision of services to RZD operating divisions, subsidiaries and business partners.