VTB management suggests paying dividends no lower than year earlier - Kostin
MOSCOW. April 22 (Interfax) - The management of VTB is suggesting that dividends be paid for 2014 in absolute terms no lower than a year earlier, the bank's chief, Andrei Kostin, said in a interview with Bloomberg TV.
Kostin said the position of management is that the level of dividends be maintained in absolute terms, at the very least at the same level as last year. Shareholders should of course resolve this issue. The bank's management will wait until the shareholders' meeting for a final decision, he said.
VTB currently has "negative margin" due to the high interest rates for raising funds. He expressed hope that the Central Bank this year would lower the key rate to a more acceptable 10% per annum, and is expecting reductions in April and June. The bank is not expecting a strong increase in bad loans this year.
According to the bank's expectations, in 2015 Russia's GDP may fall by 3%-4% and in 2016 it will rise by 2.5%.
The supervisory board of VTB is planning to present recommendations on dividends on April 24 for the annual shareholders' meeting. At the annual meeting held in 2014, shareholders decided to allocate 15.034 billion rubles for dividends. VTB reduced net profit to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by 99.2% to 0.8 billion rubles.