Reaching agreement on parameters of deal to buy Otkritie matter of days - VTB head

MOSCOW. Nov 10 (Interfax) - Agreement on the parameters of the deal to purchase Otkritie is a matter of days, and the deal will be closed before the end of the year, VTB head Andrei Kostin said on the Rossiya 24 television channel.

"We've made significant headway, and I hope that there will be news in the near future. Negotiations are practically at the closing stage, and now the valuation needs to be agreed on. I think that this is a matter of day, not even weeks, when we'll conclusively approve all parameters," Kostin said.

VTB has the money to buy Otkritie, otherwise the bank would not have entered the deal, Kostin said. "The Central Bank wouldn't talk to us. No one needs a partner incapable of paying," he said.

"We believe that the bank [Otkritie] will exist for another year and a half, and then its brand will disappear," Kostin said.

Meanwhile the Central Bank of Russia still intends to sell Otkritie Bank to VTB , Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina said.

"We do not intend to postpone this deadline. We are expecting an assessment literally in the next few days. Discussions on some parameters of the deal are ongoing," Nabiullina told reporters on the sidelines of the Finopolis forum.

"We have a fairly high degree of confidence that we will close the deal before the end of this year. Our intentions have not changed," she said.