VTB loses 100 mln rubles on sale of Russian National Commercial Bank
MOSCOW. May 27 (Interfax) - VTB took a loss of 100 million rubles in the first quarter of 2014 from its sale of Russian National Commercial Bank (RNCB), which is now a backbone bank in Crimea.
It sold RNCB for 1.2 billion rubles, VTB said in its financial statement.
RNCB was owned by Bank of Moscow , part of the VTB group. It was the first Russian bank to begin operating in Crimea, which became part of Russia in March. At that time, Bank of Moscow announced RNCB's sale. VTB chief Andrei Kostin said earlier that the bank was sold "to corporate entities operating on Crimean territory." He did not name them.
RNCB currently has two branch offices in Simferopol and dozens more throughout Crimea.
VTB itself is not at present considering the possibility of operating in Crimea through a Russian subsidiary, Kostin said in April, noting that "preservation of the Ukrainian business is important [for the VTB group]."
