The Central Bank of the Russian Federation and the country's bad bank National Bank Trust PJSC are in discussions with businessman Mikhail Gutseriev regarding the settlement of debts amounting to 140 billion Russian rubles, Reuters reported Oct. 3.
The debt relates to the 2017 bailout of B&N Bank and Rost Bank, controlled by Gutseriev's family at the time. Under the discussed settlement, Gutseriev and his brother, Sait-Salam, will pay off the debt over the next five years to settle part of the bailout costs incurred by the central bank, with the payments to be carried out in cash and assets.
Through the settlement, the Gutseriev brothers, who controlled Rost and B&N Bank via company Safmar, could avoid a lawsuit from the regulator, according to the Reuters report. Mikhail Gutseriev's nephew, Mikail Shishkhanov, who was responsible for the banks before their bailout, will not be included in the settlement agreement.
The central bank provided a 57 billion ruble capital boost for B&N Bank and a further 800 billion rubles in liquidity for Rost Bank as part of their 2017 bailout. The lenders no longer exist, with B&N absorbed by Otkritie Financial Corp. Bank in 2018, and Rost Bank merged with National Bank Trust, which holds bad and noncore assets of the bailed-out banks.
The central bank spent over 2 trillion rubles to rescue B&N Bank and Rost, as well as Otkritie and PAO Promsvyazbank, also bailed out in 2017. The regulator hopes to retrieve some of the funds by taking various steps, including sales of the banks' assets and lawsuits against their former owners.
As of Oct. 3, US$1 was equivalent to 65.21 Russian rubles.
