OREANDA-NEWS. According to the agency, the positive outlook reflects continuing healthy growth, healthy earnings performance and the stability nature of the factors driving financial results.

The rating itself is based on access to support from ProbusinessBank, moderately well-developed market positions at the regional level and healthy financial results.

Constraining factors include the limited diversification of both asset- and funding-side operations plus refinancing opportunities dependent on the financial stability of the LIFE group as a whole.

Express-Volga is a smaller private-sector regional bank, the largest in the Saratov region and a member of the LIFE group, which has loan offices and other service locations in several regions of the country; member companies include six subsidiary banks plus Life Factoring, the real estate developer Probusiness-Development and ProbusinessBank, the larger Moscow bank at the head of the group. Express-Volga’s own operations focus on loans and other services for small and mid-sized businesses plus retail clients, mainly in its home region. Market positions at the regional level are moderately well developed and the Bank is not active in the speculative markets