1 Oct 2009 14:28

Gazprombank hopes to post IFRS net profit for 2009

YUZHNO-SAKHALINSK. Oct 1 (Interfax) - Gazprombank plans to post IFRS net profit for 2009, the bank's deputy vice president, Alexander Kaznacheyev, told journalists on Thursday.

"We expect IFRS profit this year instead of losses that we had last year," he said.

It was earlier reported that Gazprombank's IFRS net loss came to 60.1 billion rubles for 2008 against a net profit of 33.6 billion rubles in 2007. The bank said the losses had been the result of fixed currency operations and a negative reappraisal of its securities.

In the first quarter of 2009, Gazprombank posted 16.6 billion rubles in IFRS net profit.

Commenting on Gazprombank's current operations, Kaznacheyev said that the bank had held 23 transactions on the midterm and long-term lending market since the start of 2009 worth a combined $2.8 billion.

He added that at the end of the first half, the bank's loan portfolio for project and structural financing came to over $7 billion. Kaznacheyev said that the bank was implementing project financing for the oil, gas and metallurgical sectors, as well as in machine building.

Kaznacheyev also said that in October the bank plans to raise a subordinated loan from Vnesheconombank (VEB) worth 75 billion rubles.

VEB's President, Vladimir Dmitry, said at the end of July 2009 that Gazprombank would receive a subordinated loan worth 75 billion rubles through a "one to three" plan (for each ruble from the bank's shareholders VEB would meet with three rubles in loan funds).

Gazprombank was third largest Russian bank by assets at the end of the first half of 2009 according to the Interfax-100, compiled by the Interfax Center for Economic Analysis (CEA).