20.06.2019

President of OTP Bank Ilya Chizhevsky: “I will ask my child the same question that we ask our clients”

OTP Bank is 25 years old, your Hungarian shareholder is 70. Name some of the most important moments in the history of the bank. What do you remember the most?

For us, the starting point of a new life was 2006, when the OTP Group acquired Investsberbank. Here I will make a small transition to the history of the Group, because 2008 did not pass us by. There was a difficult situation in Hungary, connected, first of all, with foreign currency mortgage lending. I must say that the Group coped with it very worthily and in a short time. This made it possible to continue the development of business both in Hungary and abroad, in subsidiary banks. For us, this meant the allocation of investments for product development and the increase in distribution, which took place in 2012-2013. But, unfortunately, then the financial crisis began. The hardest time was in 2014 and the first half of 2015. As for all banks in our country, it was a time when we made difficult decisions. They concerned costs, the revision of our business approaches, and, to my regret, they also concerned personnel. But I am very glad that this time is behind us, since 2016 we have been developing our business very actively. It is pleasant to note that over the 25-year history of the bank in Russia, the last 2 years have been the best in terms of financial results.

If we talk about the Group, then in 2018-2019. it continued to actively develop and expand its presence in Central and Eastern Europe. During this time, 6 banks were acquired, and further negotiations are underway. Currently, the OTP Group is present in 10 countries and is the largest and one of the most profitable financial groups in Central and Eastern Europe.

- How does the bank achieve high profitability?

First of all, the interaction between internal divisions was completely rebuilt. If at the time of my arrival at the bank in 2013, my colleagues within the board often interacted in the language of memos, but now it is simply impossible to imagine. I believe that we have built an exemplary collaboration between business, finance and risks, where everyone is responsible for their part of the work with one goal - the development and growth of the bank's performance. It is this structure and culture that I consider the key to our overall success. The return on capital of the Russian business of OTP Group amounted to 23% in 2018, which is one of the best results in Russia.

It will also be important to note that when making decisions, we adhere to two very important principles.

First, we never prioritize short-term benefits over long-term organizational development priorities. We want to work on the market for a long time and successfully and do not make such compromises.

The second - when making a business decision, we always evaluate it through the prism of numbers and financial analysis. We look at the present value, lifetime value, which allow you to very clearly see the drivers and predict the financial effect of a particular decision. The combination of these factors, in addition to the business model itself, allows us to show such results.

- How do you calculate these long-term steps?

As I said, we do not allow populist decisions to be made for the sake of some place in the ranking, to the detriment of profitability. We have many examples on the market, you don't have to go far. When times get tough, we see banks making business decisions that weren't well thought out. For some, this resulted in the collapse of either the direction, or the entire business as a whole. It is not difficult for us to become a leader in consumer lending. This can be done in 3 months, if we talk about the volume of loans, but the long-term financial consequences of such a decision will be extremely painful for the organization. We decided once and for all not to go that way. In a short-term market in terms of economic cycles, decisions cannot be made “at random”.

What areas does the bank focus on? Or an emphasis on versatility?

It so happened historically that 77% of the organization's income is related to lending. As part of the strategy that we have defined for ourselves for the next 3 years, we want to diversify our business model both in terms of sources of income and sources of attracting new customers. There are many prerequisites for such a decision, including the volatility of the economy in the country. Lending is becoming a rather sensitive area, and it is quite risky to base the attraction of new customers solely on it.

- What other directions do you plan to develop?

We have 3 million active clients. For most of them, we have not previously offered settlement products related to daily spending of their own funds.

Another example is working with high-yield segments, such as affluent and private, which we have not actively developed before. We want to take a closer look at the opportunities we have in these areas. Our bank has been operating in the Russian market for 25 years and is one of the few Western banks that remain active in our market and are considering opportunities to expand and develop their business. For many clients, this is attractive.

Entering new segments, we understand that the processes and products that we have need to be improved. If you make a quality product that is convenient for the client, honest with him, and builds optimal processes, then there is no reason for you not to develop this direction. There is no mystery or secret here.

It is probably difficult to come up with something new in banking - all banks have approximately the same products. What is your advantage over competitors?

Here you need to understand what segments and what products we are talking about. If we talk about our advantages in consumer lending, I will, of course, speak about the quality of decisions made and expertise. If we talk about corporate or small business, it is, first of all, reliability for our clients and work in an individual "boutique" format, with a lively dialogue, which is very convenient for our clients.

- We are a publication about small and medium-sized businesses: does the bank work with SMEs? What services does it offer to clients?

Historically, small and medium-sized businesses have occupied an important place in the development of the bank, another question is that at some point the profitability of consumer lending prevailed so much that this direction faded into the background in terms of development priorities. But in 2014, we returned to this issue, since 2015 we began expanding our activities in SMEs, formulating a new proposal for cash settlement services, supplementing it with new services, and in 2018 we launched lending, which historically has not been done before.

I have seen interesting statistics in terms of opening accounts for legal entities. In our country, the number of legal entities is falling. At the same time, I am familiar with the plans of many banks that set a goal within 3 years, if not to double, then to significantly increase the number of legal entities that they serve. Here is one of two. Either legal entities will diversify more than now and open accounts in many banks, or many banks are deceived in their expectations. Understanding this trend, we are looking for our niche and those who may be interested. Those for whom the reliability of a Western bank, the service we can provide, and above all our flexibility will be an advantage. These are the clients we attract.

The bank does not make compromises related to the quality of attracted customers, we have a rather demanding control. We bear obligations both to existing clients of the bank and to shareholders.

- How many legal entities does the bank serve today?

About 17 thousand active clients of small and medium businesses. This figure is growing. We attract quite a lot of clients every month. At the same time, we focus on small and medium-sized businesses, not on micro.

- What is the reason for this?

Firstly, a large number of banks have focused precisely in the micro-segment, where competition is high, it is difficult to offer something special.

Secondly, customers who are looking for their service in micro are mainly focused on digital solutions, and there are banks that do it objectively well - again, it is difficult to compete. Thirdly, there is a rather low salary.

- What are the advantages of your bank in the field of SMEs over other credit institutions?

They lie in an individual approach. For example, in lending, we do not work on the principle of a factory, we have a lively dialogue with SME clients. In most cases, this helps in terms of decision making.

- What goals and objectives do you set for yourself and for the bank's team for the next few years?

We have an understanding of what we want to do over the next 3 years, and there are 3 key priority areas within which we will develop.

The first is diversification. We are interested in receiving additional sources of income.

We will also launch a new direction or start thinking completely differently about those where we are already present.

We never set ourselves the task of being pioneers in the field of digitalization. There are a lot of prerequisites for this, related, among other things, to the segment in which we work. But for ourselves, we understand very well that digitalization is an opportunity to significantly optimize our internal processes and make it more convenient for customers to interact with us. So this is our second priority. By the end of this year, we are completely changing our digital platform inside the bank, this is a large-scale and important project for us.

And the third, most important area, we identified the improvement of customer experience. Due to the results of work in this direction, we want to gain additional benefits and trust from our existing and potential customers. We have already launched a program that is reviewing both processes and products for interacting with customers. This becomes a key task for the management and all employees of the bank.

- What are these processes, products?

First of all, those for which we have regular feedback from our customers. We also plan to work with focus groups, which will help to get more information about what customers like and what needs to be changed on our part. Due to this dialogue, we will seek a balance between convenience for customers and the business tasks that we set for ourselves.

What kind of feedback do you get from clients now?

If you look at the feedback from customers to banks, for example on the Internet, you will see very few positive examples. This property of a person is more willing to speak out about the negative than about the positive experience, because we perceive positive experience as the norm, which is natural and fair.

It is impossible to make all 3 million customers absolutely happy throughout the entire interaction, so, of course, there are requests. We rebuilt our customer service business 3 years ago, and now it's nice to say that 80% of customer requests through any channel are resolved faster than 5 days.

Working at such a pace, how do you manage to stay in good shape? Are there any ways - how to recover after work?

One thing that I recently discovered for myself, and I regret that I did not discover it earlier, is to be able to switch. You need to give your head a break from work. If this is not done, the efficiency is reduced. For me, these are 3 main things - music, theater and sports.

Do you organize some kind of leisure for employees during the working day, so that they also have the opportunity to switch for a while?

Certainly. Now we are finishing the reorganization of our infrastructure. We are in a new head office, we moved into it on April 15th. There are enough areas where employees could relax during the day. The task was to create a space where employees would be comfortable, regardless of the time when they come here. We have both showers and bike parking.

In the neighborhood with us there is one more of our operational office, which we have re-equipped for greater convenience and efficiency of the team, built a comfortable infrastructure for work and leisure.

Also at the end of 2018, an operating office was built in Tver with an area of ​​5.5 thousand square meters. m. This 3-storey building is by far the best office in Tver, in which the space is organized in such a way that it is convenient and comfortable for colleagues to spend time at work. Until the end of 2019, 600 employees will work there.

All our new offices are equipped with spacious kitchen-dining rooms, comfortable meeting rooms, and collaboration zones. We have installed special telephone booths in the central office so that employees can communicate on personal issues without distracting colleagues, and without experiencing discomfort themselves.

Have you ever had to make difficult choices in your life?

I had to, of course. At one time, I moved from my hometown to Moscow. For me it was a very difficult decision. Friends helped make this happen, and thanks to them I never felt lonely or uncomfortable in Moscow.

- How often do you travel and what places do you usually choose for trips?

I calculated that over the past year I have more than 110 border crossing marks in my passport, I travel often.

To relax and feel good, I need to go to nature. I'm not a big fan of cities. I go to the taiga with a tent for 3 years in a row and spend a week in the wild. These are actually mini-expeditions, and that's where I really relax.

The topic of financial literacy of the population does not lose its relevance. How do you teach your children the right attitude towards money?

Of course, finance is of great interest to children. My middle daughter last year, she was then 9 years old, asked me to tell her in detail how the bank works. I drew several diagrams, explained what cash flows are. My daughter folded the papers and took them with her. I think she has some kind of plan.

The main thing I instill in them about money is that money is the result of work. This forms a correct and responsible attitude towards money. My children have their own savings, I see how carefully they treat them, and I respect this.

What is your attitude towards loans, and how would you feel if one of your children wants to take out a loan in the future?

I will ask my child exactly the same question that we ask our clients. Do they know what they want to spend money on, do they understand how they will cope with the repayment of their obligations.

- Have you ever had your own business? Have you thought about starting your own business in the future?

Of course it was. At the age of 13, at the Moskovskaya metro station, I was very successful in selling ice cream during school holidays. Earned more than my parents' combined income.

At the moment I am a hired manager, but if I ever thought about business, it would be related to education. Raising three children, you understand the imperfections and limitations of the current system, and at the same time you see the opportunities that modern technologies and alternative approaches to education open up.

The president

Ilya Petrovich Chizhevsky was born in Leningrad (St. Petersburg) in 1978.

In 2000 he received a diploma from the St. Petersburg Institute of Fine Mechanics and Optics (Technical University). While studying at the University, he was an active member of the International Association of Students of Economics and Management (AIESEC). He started his career in St. Petersburg in the FMCG sector - Kraft Foods.

In 2003, he moved to the retail division of ZAO Citibank in Moscow, where he developed alternative sales channels and loan products. In 2006, he moved to GE Capital - working in Russia and abroad, he rose from the head of the Moscow region to the Director of Sales and Distribution in Russia, was responsible for the development of distribution and sales channels, alternative funding and customer acquisition via the Internet. In October 2012, he moved to LLC Rusfinance Bank (Societe Generale) to the position of Deputy President of the bank, where he was responsible for sales, products and marketing at the bank.

In June 2013, he joined the OTP Bank team, where from August 2013 he held the position of Director of the Network Division. On June 9, 2014, he was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of OTP Bank. Ilya Chizhevsky was responsible for the classic branch network business and alternative sales channels. In addition, he was responsible for working with the VIP segment, micro and small businesses, the development of the Bank's corporate business, channels for remote attraction and servicing of the Bank's clients.

Kapustin Sergey Nikolaevich

Sergei Nikolaevich Kapustin

Deputy Chairman of the Board, Member of the Board

Sergey Nikolaevich Kapustin was born in Moscow in 1979.

In 2001 he graduated from the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of Moscow State University with a degree in Applied Mathematics. He has a PhD in Economics.

More than 15 years in the banking sector. He started his banking career in 2001 at Bank Vozrozhdenie, where he rose from a leading specialist to Deputy Head of the Retail Operations Department, being responsible for the Bank's retail business and risk management.

In 2008, he moved to OTP Bank, where he took the position of Director of the Risk Assessment and Methodology Directorate. Supervised issues related to credit risks for the Bank's retail portfolio, lending methodology, operational and market risks.

From 2011 to 2013 he worked in the field of microfinance.

Since 2013, he has been Deputy Chairman of the Board, Director of the Risk Management Division at OTP Bank.

Oreshkina Yulia Sergeevna

Yulia Sergeevna Oreshkina

Director of the Legal Support Directorate, Member of the Management Board

Yulia Sergeevna Oreshkina was born in Moscow in 1973.

In 1997 she graduated from the Moscow State Law Academy with a degree in jurisprudence.

She began her career in the prosecutor's office, then moved to the Legal Department of the Moscow Main Territorial Department of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. Yulia Sergeevna Oreshkina also worked in various years in the legal departments of a number of large Russian banks, in particular, such as CB Petrocommerce, OJSC Impexbank and others.

Yulia Sergeevna Oreshkina has been working at OTP Bank (until 2008 - Investsberbank) since 2007, where she heads the legal support department.

Vasiliev Alexander Vasilievich

Deputy Chairman of the Board, Member of the Board

Alexander Vasilievich Vasiliev

Deputy Chairman of the Board, Member of the Board

Alexander Vasilyevich Vasiliev was born in Akhtubinsk in 1978.

Graduated from Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov.

Has been working in the banking sector for over 10 years.

From 2004 to 2010, he acted as Deputy Head of Retail Operations at OJSC Bank Vozrozhdenie, where he worked on projects to develop lending products for individuals (consumer loans, car loans, mortgage lending), as well as to introduce systems for automating retail lending processes , such as Microsoft Dynamics CRM, Experian Strategy Manager.

In 2010, Mr. Vasilyev headed the credit risk department of FG BCS, where he participated in the launch of retail lending and in the creation of unified processes for assessing and managing credit risks. Since June 2011, he joined the OTP Bank team as Director of the Directorate for Product and Technology Development. Since December 2013, he has been Acting Director of the Consumer Lending Division.

Dremach Kirill Andreevich

Deputy Chairman of the Board, Member of the Board

Kirill Andreevich Dremach

Deputy Chairman of the Board, Member of the Board

Kirill Andreevich Dremach was born in Moscow in 1974.

In 1996 he graduated from the Moscow Institute of Economics and Statistics with a degree in Applied Mathematics.

More than 20 years in the banking sector. He began his banking career in 1996 at ZAO Citibank, rising from a specialist to the Head of the Information Technology Department, where he was responsible for the development of the information and technical base, automation of business processes and financial management in the field of IT.

In 2009, he moved to Barclays Bank LLC as Director of the Information Technology Department, in 2010 he was included in the Bank's Management Board.

From 2012 to 2016, he worked at AO Citibank as the Head of Operational Banking Technologies in Central and Eastern Europe, responsible for the creation, maintenance and development of the bank's high-tech information environment, supervised the development and application of information systems and new banking products.

In November 2016, he joined the team of OTP Bank JSC as Director of the Operational Management Division. Since November 3, 2017, he has been the Deputy Chairman of the Management Board, a member of the Management Board of OTP Bank JSC.

Belomyttsev Igor Yurievich

Deputy Chairman of the Board, Member of the Board

Igor Yurievich Belomyttsev

Deputy Chairman of the Board, Member of the Board

Igor Yuryevich Belomyttsev was born in Gorky (Nizhny Novgorod) in 1966.

In 1989, he received a diploma in Economics with a degree in Foreign Economic Relations from the Karl Marx University of Economic Sciences in Budapest. In 1993, Igor Yuryevich graduated from the magistracy at the Stockholm University of Economics.

More than 25 years in the banking sector. He began his banking career in 1990 at the Hungarian Mezobank, which was later merged into a major financial group in Central Europe, the Erste Bank Group. Igor Yuryevich was appointed Director of the Treasury Operations Division and was responsible for the development of ALM and the management of Erste Bank's treasury activities in Hungary, the development and implementation of business strategies in the field of treasury operations, initiating the development of new investment products and strategies.

In 2001, he moved to PJSC Volksbank (Budapest) and headed the Treasury Division and the investment direction at the Bank.

In 2007 he joined the team of OTP Bank (Ukraine) as Deputy Chairman of the Board responsible for Treasury operations and asset and liability management, development of subsidiaries. Under the leadership of Igor Yurievich, OTP Factoring, OTP Pension Fund, OTP Management Company and OTP Leasing were created and successfully developed.

In 2016, Igor Yuryevich moved to OTP Bank (Russia), where he took the position of Advisor to the President and was responsible for the development of the Corporate Business and Treasury Operations. In February 2017, Igor was appointed Director of the Corporate Business and Treasury Division, Igor successfully manages the development of strategies and new products in the business areas of these divisions.

On November 3, 2017, he was appointed Deputy Chairman of the Management Board, member of the Management Board of OTP Bank JSC.

On January 27, 2015, Gabor Burian-Kozma joined the team of the Finance Division of OTP Bank JSC as a Project Manager. He was involved in the development of plans for the preparation and implementation of financial projects of the Bank, took part in the improvement of business planning and the development of an effective strategic model for the development of the OTP Group in Russia.

On December 1, 2015, Gabor was appointed Director of the Finance Division and assumed oversight of the financial unit of OTP Bank (Russia) and management of the divisions responsible for the formation and strategic planning of the Bank's financial policy, financial and accounting services, divisions responsible for audits.

On June 6, 2018, he was appointed to the position of Deputy Chairman of the Management Board, member of the Management Board of OTP Bank JSC.

Several leading banks operate in Russia, among them OTP Bank. This organization offers products and services to both individuals and legal entities. Favorable service conditions and a loyal credit policy attract new customers every day and allow the bank to develop rapidly.

About OTP Bank

The history of the financial organization began in 1994. Initially, OTP was called Investsberbank, but due to the radical metamorphoses associated with entering the OTP Group, in February 2008 it became known as OTP Bank

Group

In 2006, OTP Bank became part of the Hungarian OTP Group, which today is the leading financial institution and leading provider of banking services in Europe. The Group is involved in such areas as banking, insurance, investment, leasing. Its basis is OTP Bank, located in Hungary. It occupies 26% of the national market, and the value of its assets is estimated at 10,978,359 million forints. Apart from Russia, the following countries belong to the group:

1. Ukraine.
2. Bulgaria.
3. Slovakia.
4. Serbia.
5. Montenegro.
6. Croatia.
7. Romania.

The Latin abbreviation OTP stands for Országos Takarékpénztár (National Savings Bank). Over time, it migrated to Russian and began to be used to name local branches.

Story

OTP Bank is developing rapidly. Throughout its activities, there has been a constant increase in assets and profits, the introduction of new technologies, the creation of high-quality products. Great achievements have been repeatedly noted at various awards. We should also pay tribute to the management, which, due to their correct decisions, brought the company to a high level.

The history of the development of OTP Bank is presented in the table:

Mission and Vision

"OTP Bank" seeks to win the trust of consumers, which he succeeds. It sells affordable products and services in all regions of the Russian Federation. Its mission is to increase the level of financial literacy and develop the banking services market. The vision of OTP Bank is to achieve the following long-term goals:

• increase the number of regular customers up to 3 million;
• get into the TOP-20 banks of the Russian Federation;
• become one of the main industries of the OTP Group.

Given that OTP has a stable growth in profits and other indicators, it will be able to realize its plans in the near future. A large flow of customers is ensured by favorable conditions for loans and deposits, a wide selection of banking products, and high-quality European-level service. Tariffs are calculated for citizens of various social status, including pensioners, beneficiaries, and the unemployed. The requirements that are put forward to potential customers are very loyal.

Management of OTP Bank

In the process of the company's formation, its management was constantly replaced. However, today it looks like this:

Financial indicators

"OTP Bank" for the last reporting period (03.2018) has improved its financial performance. The indicators from the reporting are given in the table:

Address and details

The main office of the bank is located in Moscow and has the following legal and actual address: 125171, Moscow, Leningradskoe shosse, 16A, building 1. However, postal correspondence is delivered to the address: 127299, Moscow, Clara Zetkin street, 4A, building 1.

To make transfers, below are the details of the financial institution:

Clients and partners

The main contingent served by the bank are individuals. For them, he developed a standard set of products, including consumer loans at retail outlets, deposits, and credit cards. It also serves corporate clients. For them, settlement operations, placement of funds on deposit accounts and much more are carried out.

The bank has many partners. The most popular of them are the following companies: Moscow Jewelry Factory, Snow Queen, Megafon, Euroset. They offer various discounts and bonuses to bank customers. You can also apply for a loan in partner stores, which is very convenient.

OTP Bank is the leader in the financial market in Russia. Therefore, choosing a reliable financial institution for making deposits or applying for a loan, you should pay attention to it first of all. It offers the most favorable conditions in Russia, which will be optimal for various segments of the population.

Brief description of OTP Bank (history, founders, branches, authorized capital)

The history of the Russian OTP Bank begins with the creation in March 1994 of the Germes savings bank, which at that time was part of the concern of the same name. Later, the bank was transformed into JSCB "Bank of Investments and Savings" (abbreviated as Investsberbank). In February 2005, the merger of Investsberbank with the capital's Russian General Bank was completed on the initiative of the latter's shareholders. It was believed that Investsberbank had a more promoted trademark in the private deposit market, so the merger of banks took place on its basis, and the license of the RSL was canceled. The size of the deal was then estimated at $800,000. In August 2006, the bank also merged Omskpromstroybank and Promfinservicebank. In October 2006, the Hungarian OTP Bank completed the acquisition of a 96.4% stake in Investsberbank for $477 million. In 2008, Investsberbank switched to the parent brand and was renamed OTP Bank.

Now the Hungarian OTP Bank controls 97.81% of the shares of the Russian credit institution, a further 1.2% stake is owned by the Hungarian Investment and Property Management CJSC MFB Invest. The remaining shares (less than 1%) are distributed among other shareholders.

OTP Bank provides customer service through its own network of 175 offices, including 9 branches, 166 outlets (of which 35 are in Moscow), 51 cash desks and 225 ATMs.

Rice. 1

Clients are offered a standard set of banking products and services (money transfers, rent of safes, plastic cards, settlement and cash services, remote banking, trade finance, conversion operations, operations with securities, deposits and deposits, as well as commercial, consumer, mortgage lending, etc. .). OTP Bank's activities cover 70 regions of Russia, while the POS network includes more than 17,500 retail outlets, 95 Bank's cash and credit offices, is represented in 7 out of 8 federal districts, and is actively operating in all cities with a population of more than 1 million people . The largest regions of the Bank's presence are Moscow, St. Petersburg, Samara, Novosibirsk, Omsk and Rostov regions, and the Urals. In total, OTP Bank is present in more than 2,700 settlements in Russia.

At the end of 2012, the bank's balance sheet currency index increased by 22%. In the passive part, there was a noticeable increase in the volume of deposits of individuals and enterprises, in assets, newly attracted funds were mainly distributed in the loan portfolio, as well as invested in securities.

The resource base is dominated by deposits and current accounts of individuals - 32% of liabilities, the bank's own funds account for 24%. 15% falls on accounts and deposits of legal entities, 6% is attracted from the parent organization. Turnovers on customer accounts within a month amount to 90-150 billion rubles.

In assets, 80% is occupied by the loan portfolio, in the composition of the portfolio, almost all loans issued fall to individuals (97%). The organization has significantly increased the volume of loans to private clients. The delay is shown at the level of 15% under RAS (as of January 2012, this figure was 9%, growing in dynamics). 12% of net assets are invested in securities, 2% of which are government bonds; placements in banks (issued interbank loans) also account for 12%. In the domestic interbank market, the financial institution works in both directions, acting as a net creditor, as well as attracting the missing amounts of funds. The organization actively conducts transactions in the foreign exchange market, as well as in the debt securities market, including in the format of REPO transactions.

At the end of 2012, OTP Bank received a net profit of about 6.5 billion rubles, according to financial statements under RAS (in 2011, the same figure was 5.2 billion). As of December 1, 2013, the bank earned 775 million rubles.

Board of Directors: Istvan Hamets (Chairman), Ildiko Tax, Zoltan Shenk, Peter Forrai, Miroslav Vichev, Akos Monoshtori, Georgy Chesakov.

Governing body People: Georgy Chesakov (Chairman, President), Sergey Kapustin, Valery Stepanov, Yulia Oreshkina.

Against the backdrop of the fall of the retail market, personnel changes began in the management of monoliner banks. Chairman of the Board of the Hungarian OTP Bank Georgy Chesakov leaves his post on October 15, the shareholders have not yet found a replacement for him

Photo: Anton Novoderezhkin / TASS

Three sources close to the bank told RBC that Chesakov was leaving OTP Bank, and the press service confirmed it. The letter, which was sent to bank employees on September 22 (available to RBC), says that Chesakov is leaving the post of president of OTP Bank on October 15, 2015. “This decision was made by mutual agreement of the parties, it was caused by differences in the vision of the further development of the bank in Russia. From October 16, 2015, Yulia Oreshkina, member of the board of OTP Bank, will act as interim president,” the letter says.

An RBC source close to the bank says that the decision to resign was unexpected both for Chesakov himself and for the team. replacement for Chesakov,” the source says, adding that the reason for leaving could be claims against him from Western shareholders. “They didn’t like that Georgy was unable to join the team, create a strong team, and he was also not sufficiently involved in the development of the bank in the regions,” the source notes.

Another RBC source cites "insufficient speed of bank optimization and cost reduction in a crisis" as the reason for Chesakov's departure. The bank has been showing losses since 2014. ​ If at the end of 2012 it earned a profit under IFRS in the amount of 6.95 billion rubles, then in 2013 it decreased to 607.4 million rubles, at the end of 2014 the bank received a loss of 2.3 billion rubles, and in the first half of 2015 the loss amounted to 3.4 billion rubles. Since the beginning of the year, the loan portfolio of OTP Bank has decreased by 13%, and the delinquency has increased by 44% according to Russian reporting.

Chesakov told RBC that over the past year the bank has done a lot to overcome the effects of the crisis. “As a result, the results of the bank in recent months are significantly better than the forecasts made in the spring. Nevertheless, our views with the shareholders on the further development of the bank diverged, which led to the adoption of a mutual decision,” he added.

Chesakov headed OTP Bank in the fall of 2013, from 2006 to 2011 he worked at Tinkoff Bank, including as a chairman of the board. Chesakov's track record includes work at Russian Standard Bank, McKinsey & Company, BP, and Rust. He attended the Mechanics and Mathematics Department of Moscow State University, where he graduated with honors, after which he received a master's degree in computer science from Princeton University, and in the early 1990s received an evening education in business and economics from the Russian-American Independent University.

Prior to Russian Standard, he worked for Investsberbank for three years, where he was in charge of the retail lending business. In the same year that Chesakov left for Tinkoff Bank, Investsberbank was sold to the Hungarian OTP Bank.

OTP Bank ranks 45th in terms of assets (171 billion rubles), the controlling shareholder of the bank is the Hungarian OTP Bank.

In the first half of 2015, retail banks brought a fifth of the losses of the entire banking system in the first half of the year. The total loss in the system amounted to 256 billion rubles, and the loss of seven of the ten largest retail banks was 49 billion rubles. According to the results of the first half of 2015, VTB24 had the largest loss among banks specializing in lending to individuals in the first half of 2015 - 12.3 billion rubles. (against the profit of 10.5 billion rubles for the same period last year). It was followed by Home Credit with a loss of 9.5 billion rubles. Svyaznoy and Vostochny Express each lost 6.3 billion, Russian Standard - 5.6 billion, Renaissance Credit - 5.1 billion, OTP - 3.4 billion rubles.

Retail monoliner revenues are falling for two main reasons: first, the Bank of Russia introduced a cap on consumer lending rates; secondly, the banks themselves, which are now less actively and more carefully building up their portfolios, competing for a better quality borrower, are forced to cut rates. At the same time, banks have to pay more for funding, and the growth of deposit rates undermines the business model of even players with an acceptable level of credit losses. Banks are actively reducing branches, staff, downsizing business, but this does not cover the growth in the cost of funding.