OREANDA-NEWS.  October 17, 2014. Alushta, Crimea, was the scene of the traditional annual out meeting of Sviaz-Bank’s Management Board. The meeting was attended by Vladimir Dmitriyev, Chairman of Vnesheconombank, Denis Nozdrachev, President-Chairman of Sviaz-Bank’s Management Board, the Bank’s top officials, and managers of the regional branches.

The meeting was called to total up the performance of Sviaz-Bank’s branches over eight months of this year and to discuss guidelines for future business development in the regions.

Vladimir Dmitriyev, Chairman of Vnesheconombank, praised Sviaz-Bank in his address to the audience for its ongoing dynamic growth, stability, and its ability to maintain the required amount of reserve liquidity unassisted in the current situation that is far from simple because of the complicated international political climate. He singled out for special praise the Bank’s successful performance in the retail business, above all its Military Mortgage program.

Denis Nozdrachev, President-Chairman of Sviaz-Bank’s Management Board, spoke about the Bank’s plans for completing several major projects, including those that are intended to increase the efficiency of the Bank’s business, cost reductions to be achieved by centralizing some of the branches’ functions, and also to expand cooperation with the Bank’s longstanding strategic partner, the FSUE Post of Russia. In particular, Denis Nozdrachev noted the importance of the Forsage joint project launched earlier this year for money transfers to be made in CIS countries through the Bank’s BLIZKO Payment System.

The geographic coverage of Sviaz-Bank’s presence expanded in 2014, and the Bank now maintains a presence in 53 regions that have 154 points of sale among them. Over six months of the year, the net result of the branches’ transactions rose by 80%. Their portfolio of retail loans had 44.6 billion rubles, 14.7 billion rubles of this amount in Moscow City and Region, on September 1, 2014. In general, Sviaz-Bank’s portfolio of retail loans is growing at a higher rate than the portfolio of the banking system. The Bank’s branches had 54.7 billion rubles in their portfolio of corporate loans. On September 1, 2014, the regional network of branches had 19.3 billion rubles in accounts opened by individuals, and the funds in the corporate settlement accounts reached 39.6 billion rubles by September1, 2014.

The branches are encouraged to use new channels of sales in new residential areas, auto loans, and insurance and loan products, increase returns on active transactions, expand the customer base, introduce new products for corporate and individual customers, and open new backup offices in Moscow and regions of the Bank’s presence.