FAS orders Alfa Capital to disavow email on banks, stop similar mailings
MOSCOW. Aug 21 (Interfax) - The Russian Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) has ordered Alfa Capital disavow an email, containing misrepresentations about problems at Otkritie FC Bank , B&N Bank , Credit Bank of Moscow (CBM) and Promsvyazbank (PSB) and to stop sending out similar emails, the FAS said in a statement.
The FAS said there were signs that anti-monopoly law had been breached in the mailings, which claimed there were problems at Otkritie, B&N Bank, CBM and PSB and that "the situation regarding them might finally be resolved as early as the autumn," and recommended that assets be moved to other banks.
The FAS warned Alfa Capital that it would have to stop sending out mailings like that and to send clients who receive them messages disavowing them.
Alfa Capital said on Monday morning that it had retracted the letters containing negative information about a number of banks on Friday.
"The letter states that some of the things the employee said were not in keeping with our position and were not entirely accurate," an Alfa Capital representative said. She said "the past statements by the employee have been totally disavowed" and that the FAS had been notified of this.
Business daily Vedomosti reported on Wednesday that Alfa Capital informed its clients in an email about problems at major Russian lenders Otkritie FC Bank, B&N Bank, Credit Bank of Moscow and Promsvyazbank.
The FAS said later that day that it had already sent a request for information to Alfa Bank in regard to the distribution of a letter about the current condition of a number of banks, setting a deadline of August 21 for the company to provide the information. After receiving and studying the information, the regulator intends to make a conclusion within the scope of its responsibilities regarding Alfa Capital's actions, "that is, about whether they do or do not have indications of violations of antimonopoly legislation," FAS said.
The Russia Central Bank told the newspaper that it was planning to conduct a monitoring review of the email as well as "send a request to FAS on conducting an investigation regarding unfair competition practices."
Alfa Capital's press service told journalists on Wednesday that the email on the risks of banking instruments is the personal opinion of an individual analyst employed by the company and is not Alfa Capital's official position and the email had not been sent out as part of an official newsletter to clients.
Alfa Bank, which belongs to the same group of companies, also said that it does not have any verifiable data on problems at the banks detailed in the email.
