Recently, the regulator stripped the license of the largest Vologda bank, Severny Credit. Its collapse could not attract much attention, as it became one of many in the series of bankruptcies of large, medium and small credit institutions. However, it turned out that the bankers who had already robbed Russian banks more than once did their best to ruin the "Northern Credit", and the authorities did not bother them.

There were banks in our time

December 29, that is, on the last business day of the past year, the Central Bank stripped the license of the Vologda bank "Northern Credit". Covering it, the regulator's employees apparently sighed happily and with a light heart went to celebrate the New Year. But in Vologda for sure the mood was different. "Northern Credit" over the past few years has become the largest bank in the region, a solid package in this organization belongs to the government of the region. Through the "Northern Credit" salaries were paid to state employees and pensions. Most of all, the collapse was hit by retirees. Even before the license was revoked, money was transferred to them in the last days of December, but retirees were unable to receive payments in full, because the bank limited the issuance of cash. And, most importantly, it seems that no one paid much attention to this: think, what a trifle! And at that time, as local journalists found out, the bank promptly withdrew money.

To understand what happened to the "Northern Credit", it is useful to study its history. The bank was established in the early 1990s and worked in the Arkhangelsk region, after ten years decided to change the region and re-registered in Vologda. And during the financial crisis, the "Northern Credit" was interested in the local government, which eventually bought about 38% of the shares, paying for them a total of about half a billion rubles. Not bad money for the region. For comparison, the authorities finally paid off with the previous shareholders in 2012, and in the same year the regional center's budget amounted to about 6 billion rubles. That is, about 10% of Vologda's budget was spent on the purchase of the bank, a serious investment.

After the large package was transferred to the government of the region, it decided to create a "Development Corporation of the Vologda region", among which the "Northern Credit" was included. The plans were Napoleonic, and the bank, as the officials explained, was needed in order to carry out financial operations necessary for the development of the region. Local activists took all this with surprise and immediately suspected something was wrong, but who was listening to them.

Pocket development

Naturally, the "Nordic Credit" became the base for the region. Through him not only salaries were paid, he actively lent to local enterprises and attracted the means of the population. The Central Bank, by the way, did not doze: carried out checks and even limited the reception of money from citizens. But the "Northern Credit", apparently, it did not hurt. Only in the last few months before revoking the license, he offered several new deposit products to customers. In late October, that is, 2 months before the collapse, the bank presented a new "Key contribution" for a very tasty 8.5% per annum. True, he then lowered the yield, but in early December, that is, 3 weeks before bankruptcy, again raised rates. The classic "vacuum" scheme of collecting money from the population, with which the Central Bank seems to be struggling, at least declares this struggle. However, let us return to the instructive history of the Northern Credit.

At some point, the leadership of the Vologda region was either fed up with a pocket bank, there were other reasons, but the credit organization conducted an additional issue, as a result of which the share of the local government dropped to 23.22%. Attention: this is less than the blocking packet. That is, the authorities of the region themselves (and such decisions are not accepted without the participation of major shareholders) have been deprived of the ability to manage their own bank. Then the government put up the remaining shares for sale, but for some reason no one bought them. Then there was a lull, and for several years the bank was working quietly. But in 2017 the most interesting began. The "Northern Credit" has new shareholders and new leadership.

At the end of the year, the "Northern Credit" was headed by Sergei Krylov. And the new owners, as the MC found out, were citizens Evgeny Pikalov and Agustin Morales-Escamilla. Both had to do with the smart bank that had died in the Boz (he, by the way, was called a participant in the "Moldovan scheme" for withdrawing money), and Eskamilya was also connected with the infamous Taurus bank, which also went to another world. This Russian citizen with an exotic name is now arrested just in the case of embezzlement in Taurus. However, the criminal case, apparently, did not prevent the banker from taking a lively share in the fate of other banks, including the "Northern Credit". Indirectly, the fate of the First Czech-Russian Bank is connected with this history.

Two weeks before his collapse, he was employed by Vice-President Dmitry Merkulov, and in this short period 2 billion rubles disappeared from the bank. Merkulov is known for having worked for Taurus for a long time, and the investigation was suspected that he was involved in the embezzlement in that bank.
Two weeks before his collapse, he was employed by Vice-President Dmitry Merkulov, and in this short period 2 billion rubles disappeared from the bank. Merkulov is known for having worked for Taurus for a long time, and the investigation suspected that he was involved in embezzlement in that bank.

Attack of foreign disease

Among bankers, there is such a joke: sooner or later, managers and bank owners become infected with a mysterious "London disease", or "foreign illness." The essence of the disease is that the bankers at one point encompasses an irresistible desire to urgently leave Russia, the legs themselves bear. Law enforcement agencies are struggling with this disease, but the medicine is very rare, and managers manage to leave Russia. A side effect is the money, taken together with your mortal body, billions of rubles. So it happened with the Vologda "Northern Credit", from which 3 billion rubles were lost before the revocation of the license. And along with the money, the leadership disappeared, including the predpravleniya Sergei Krylov. The bank itself published a relevant message, accusing in all new shareholders who received control and committed illegal financial transactions.

Similar events in the Russian banking sector are repeated with an enviable regularity and nobody surprises. In the same December, the media reported on the detention of another gang of top managers, who took care of several credit institutions. They walked, you know, from one bank to another and raked out money from there. We know about these cases only because journalists have written about them and law enforcers have sparingly reported. And how many more robbed banks - only known to the siloviki and the Central Bank, which, led by Elvira Nabiullina, constantly announces increased supervision. But it does not help.

What, for example, is the meaning of the "black list" of bankers that the regulator is leading? In theory, those who get there, then do not have the right neither to own large stakes in banks, nor to manage them. But, as you can see, they are calm and in command and control. They are also called "serial bankers". And this endless series continues.