The last regional bank of the Lipetsk region - Lipetskcombank (LCB) by the middle of 2019 will become a branch of the bank Zenit, which belongs to since 2007. According to analysts, this is due to the fact that the financial institution is losing some of the funds of its key customer - the NLMK group Vladimir Lisin (the main site is Novolipetsk Steel in the Lipetsk region). The companies of the group pass to the salary project of Rosbank, a member of the international financial group Société Générale, "because of the balance of reliability and the proposed conditions." Experts believe that the desire to change the bank may be due to sanctions, because of which the international group NLMK better served in a large bank, affiliated with European capital.

The fact that the LCB, which is part of the Zenit banking group, will be integrated into the Zenit bank as a regional center with the extension of the zone of responsibility, said Elena Medvedeva, the bank's spokeswoman, to Kommersant. "This will allow Lipetskkombank to use new technological solutions, expand the range of its product line, increase the level of customer service, continue active operations as a regional center and remain an equally reliable bank for local residents, as it has been for 27 years," explained Mrs. Medvedev. According to her, the procedure should be completed by mid-2019.

This is happening on the background of the withdrawal from the LKB payroll project of the key customer - the NLMK Group. "The main prerequisite for our decision to switch to a service in Rosbank is the change in internal requirements to partner banks. They chose Rosbank because of the balance of reliability and the proposed conditions. For the employees of NLMK, the bank offers favorable terms of service and special products, such as a loyalty program developed jointly for the needs of the group, which allows to receive discounts in the partners of the bank: shops, restaurants and other retail categories, "explained NLMK press secretary Maria Simonova. The size of the wage fund, she did not disclose, specifying that the transition to a new salary project goes on in working order, and the issuance of new salary cards to employees will be completed in the third quarter of 2018. However, the decision to close the accounts in the LCB has not yet been made. In Rosbank, Kommersant confirmed the agreement with NLMK.

"Lipetskcombank is cooperating with NLMK on organizational and operational issues. The change of the bank servicing the enterprise will not affect the quality of work with current clients and the more financial condition of the bank. Critical dependence of business of the bank on the fact of the beginning of cooperation of NLMK with other financial institution is not present. In addition, NLMK employees continue to be LKB clients - to lend here, place deposits, "- said Elena Medvedeva.

Recall that NLMK for a long time was the main shareholder of the LCB - from 1999 to 2007, after which LCB entered the banking group "Zenith". At the moment, the owner of the financial organization is PJSC "Bank Zenit" "- it has 99.44% of the shares, another 0.56% is held by minority shareholders. In 2017, the bank "Zenith" successfully completed the procedure of increasing the authorized capital to 33.545 billion rubles. As a result of the additional issue, the share of the main shareholder of Zenit, the Tatneft group, in the bank's capital reached 71.9%. On the beginning of the salary project with NLMK, the bank officially announced in October 2003. Since then, the group has remained a key customer of the LCB. At the same time, Vladimir Lisin, as of May 18, remains one of the shareholders of Zenit - he and his family own 5.7% through the Cyprus Fletcher Group Holdings Limited.

Lipetskcombank, according to its own data, serves more than 4 thousand legal entities and more than 190 thousand individuals. The authorized capital of the bank is 522.6 million rubles., The value of net assets as of June 1 - 2.7 billion rubles. Net profit in 2017 amounted to 392.4 million rubles. In the previous two years the financial institution worked at a loss - in 2016 it amounted to 134.2 million rubles, in 2015 - 682.2 million rubles.

"It is a pity that there will not be a regional bank in the Lipetsk region - it has a rather high rating and a reliable client base. But its online services package lags far behind the market leaders. I think NLMK's departure played a fatal role, and after that the bank will lose at least 50% of its customers, "the source of Kommersant believes in the local financial market, familiar with the situation. According to him, the shareholders of NLMK even negotiated with Zenit for the purchase of LKB, but could not agree.

"The financial stability of the LCB is equivalent to the financial stability of Zenit Bank. But the anchor client of NLMK is the foundation on which the bank's business is built. NLMK may wish to change the bank, because due to sanctions it is better for it to be serviced by a bank that is part of a large financial group affiliated with European capital, which is Rosbank. I think that Lipetsk will not notice the loss of the regional brand, for him the main thing is that there was a counterbalance, the competition between the commercial bank and the state bank, which leads to an increase in the quality of service, "believes Alexor Antonov, an analyst at Alor Broker. According to him, in 2016 the number of employees of NLMK was 54 thousand people. "Assuming that the average salary at the plant is 39,000 rubles, the monthly wage fund is approximately 2.1 billion rubles, and the annual wage is at least 25 billion rubles. But it is unlikely that he was in the LCB, "the analyst suggested.

"Rather, it is worth talking about a combination of two trends that originated in the Russian banking market not yesterday. This gradual reduction in the share of captive, intracorporate banks, which is associated with the optimization of the structure of groups of industrial companies, including in the metallurgical sector. And also it is the consolidation of the banking sector proper - small regional players leave or join larger banking groups, especially if they have a good balance and can offer an interesting customer base - both retail and corporate, "said the adviser to the chairman of the board of the association" Financial Innovations " Andrei Korkishko.