The Bank of Russia revoked the license of the commercial bank Gazbank, which until recently was one of the largest credit organizations in the region. The bank was tightly integrated into the holding company Volgopromgaz (HSV), however during the last year the group's enterprises closed accounts with the credit organization, contributing to the deterioration of its financial condition. Nevertheless, the bank continued to service accounts of numerous budgetary organizations, including municipal enterprises responsible for the maintenance of city networks and streets. Termination of Gazbank's work can affect their work and damage the city budget.

On June 11, the Central Bank of Russia revoked the license for banking operations of JSC AKB Gazbank. On the same day, the bank appointed an interim administration. The powers of the executive bodies of the credit institution were suspended. According to the Central Bank, for the last year the regulator applied 11 measures of supervisory influence to the company 11 times, including twice imposed restrictions on attracting deposits from the population. The company hid its real financial position and did not comply with the requirements for an adequate assessment of the risks. The organization also violated regulatory acts of the regulator on combating the legalization of proceeds from crime and financing of terrorism.

• JSC AKB "Gazbank" was registered in Samara in 1993. The bank had branches in Moscow and Ulyanovsk and 10 additional offices. The number of employees of the bank as of June 30, 2017 was 669 people. The main beneficiary of the company is the well-known Samara businessman Vladimir Avetisyan, who controls the holding company Volgopromgaz (VPG). 14.41% of the company's shares belong to the general director of Gazprom Mezhregiongaz Samara (part of the structure of OAO Gazprom) and to the deputy of the Samara gubernia Duma, Andrei Kislov. The Board of Directors of the bank was formerly headed by ex-deputy gubduma Oleg Dyachenko (died January 16, 2017).

• In the company's shareholders list: Andrei Steblev (9.61%), Antonaci Gladys Noemi from Argentina (9.28%), Austrian citizens Gerhard Bayer (9%) and Barbara Miklas (9.61%), Swiss citizens Konstantin Antipin 6.12%) and Gaon David (8.3%), British citizen Jeffrey Schmidt (4.8%). 12.97% of the company's shares belong to the family members of Dyachenko. 14.46% of the capital is controlled by OOO "Business Elite", most of which belongs to Swiss citizens.

Representatives of Switzerland acquired shares in the authorized capital of Gazbank in 2016. The new shareholders said they were ready to invest in the development of the financial institution. The bank said that they attracted new partners for the implementation of new projects and expansion of business. At the same time, the company began to rotate top-managers. In 2016-2018 the chair of the company's head was alternately occupied by Maxim Soifer, Mikhail Lipovetsky, Artem Maslov, Igor Sviridov and Vladimir Averin.

In the rating of the independent financial portal banki.ru the bank took the fifth place among the 12 credit organizations of the region. In the rating of the most reliable banks in Russia, Forbes magazine ranked 78th.

As of the end of June, Gazbank attracted 19.26 billion rubles. deposits of the population. As stated on the company's website, depositors are protected by a deposit insurance system. Individuals and individual entrepreneurs can count on insurance compensation for deposits in the amount of up to 1.4 million rubles. per one depositor. Nevertheless, today queues of depositors were built for non-working cash registers and ATMs of Gazbank.

Also, the bank serves more than 5 thousand corporate clients, including large industrial enterprises and budget organizations. Earlier, the bank named municipal enterprises "Engineering systems", "Samaragorsvet", "Engineering service", "Samara embankment", "Samara fairs", "Architectural and planning bureau", "Samaravodokanal" and others. The deputy of the Samara gubernia Duma, Mikhail Matveyev, believes that the termination of the bank's work may affect the functioning of the MP responsible for the maintenance of the city. In the budget institutions that served Gazbank, have already announced a delay in wages. Employees of the Samara city polyclinic No. 9 of the Oktyabrsky district were informed today that they will receive a salary for June only after the hospital passes to a service in another bank. It is expected that this will happen in about a month.

"Gazbank was one of the most important regional banks, it was tightly integrated into local business, into the activities of budgetary organizations. In this respect, only the bank "Solidarity" can compare with it, which also serves a significant part of the local business, "the deputy said.

In "Solidarity" they did not answer the editorial office's request whether the credit institution is ready to take care of the servicing of budget organizations that previously used the services of Gazbank. However, Kommersant sources in the banking sector say that such negotiations are already underway. The mayor's office was not able to prepare an operative comment on this matter.

Gazbank also serviced commercial companies that are part of the HSV influence zone. According to Kommersant's information, at the end of 2017 they began closing accounts in Gazbank and transferring employees to payroll projects to other financial institutions. At the same time, information appeared that the regulator had accumulated claims to the bank and could be waited for to revoke the license. The massive closure of deposits worsened the position of the organization. In October 2017, the bank's own capital was 5 billion rubles. Since November this indicator began to decline rapidly - to 3 billion rubles. in June this year. According to Kommersant's information, by the time the license was revoked, the "hole" in the bank's balance sheet had exceeded the amount of capital and amounted to about 5 billion rubles.

During the year several checks were carried out in Gazbank, the last of which ended on June 30. The auditors discovered numerous violations. Thus, according to the Central Bank's data, as of June 1 of this year, the bank's own funds adequacy ratio amounted to 8,836 with a standard of 10. The long-term liquidity of the bank is 103 with a standard of 120. The interlocutor familiar with the situation believes that the management and shareholders of the bank can be attracted to subsidiary liability. It is not ruled out the initiation of criminal cases.

The auditors found out, for example, that in the staff of the bank there were some musicians who did not have special training and allegedly did not have real duties. It can be about members of the group D'Black Blues Orchestra, which is played by Vladimir Avetisyan.

Political technologist Ernest Staratelev believes that revocation of Gazbank's license is a serious blow to the business of the entire HSV group, for which the bank was an important financial instrument. The expert notes that the HSG remains one of the most influential financial and industrial groups in the Samara region. The descendant of the VPG is the provisional governor of the region Dmitry Azarov. Nevertheless, Mr. Staratelev believes that it might be politically advantageous for the holding to weaken, as Dmitry Azarov, according to the political technologist, is moving towards independence from the group.