VTB releases provisions for some blocked assets in Sept

MOSCOW. Oct 27 (Interfax) - VTB in September released provisions for a number of blocked assets that will be transferred to a special financial company in 2024, the Russian state bank's financial statements and its first deputy CEO Dmitry Pyanov indicated.

"In the segment of legal entities, there was a reassessment of our blocked assets in September," Pyanov said in a conference call with analysts.

He recalled that Russian banks subject to sanctions have been given the option to reorganize by establishing a new legal entity and transferring to it assets frozen due to sanctions, along with liabilities in the form of obligations to foreign creditors. After this, all settlements on debts to non-resident clients will be carried out only with the assets of the new company. This right is in effect until December 31, 2024.

VTB fully provisioned for blocked assets in 2022, not taking into account the possibility of such ring-fencing.

After considering and verifying the legal option of ring-fencing this company before the end of 2024, "given our scenario and anticipated nature of our provisions we had to reassess this scenario and the portion of blocked assets that can be covered with blocked obligations," Pyanov said.

"Our initial provisions at the end of 2022 were excessive. Therefore, we slightly reassessed our provisions for selected blocked assets - the main candidates for the ring-fencing into a special company that will take place in 2024," Pyanov said.

If VTB created this company now, the amount of blocked assets would total about 200 billion rubles, he added.