The FAS has approved the right of the owner of the bank Uralsib Vladimir Kogan to control the Financial Corporation (FC) Uralsib, as follows from the data of the Antimonopoly Service dated February 3, 2017

The application for the acquisition of control was filed by the Cypriot offshore company Grandchain Limited. Kogan's spokesman confirmed that it was related to his control.

In November 2015 it was decided to rehabilitate Uralsib, as a result Kogan was engaged into this process; the former principal owner of the bank Nikolay Tsvetkov had a share of 15%.

FC Uralsib includes Uralsib Lifestyle (provides services to private banking), Assistance collectors company, Uralsib Consult, Uralsib Insurance (formerly Svyaznoy Insurance bought by the Uralsib entities in December 2016), Uralsib management company, and 19.6% of NFC (factoring), as follows from SPARK data. FC losses in 2014 amounted to 47.6 billion rubles, in 2015 to 11.4 billion rubles, according to the same source. Kogan control's not only over the bank, but also over FC was determined initially. "The functioning of the bank without the transfer of the satellite companies under the FC was impossible, as between the Bank and these companies there are both operational and economic relations," he said in an interview to Kommersant. According to him, the Central Bank once believed that all of the assets of FC should be included in the deal. Such a wish was expressed also to Tsvetkov, "who understood that the future of the bank depends on this." "As a result, he agreed to sell us all assets in one way or another connected with the Bank, in respect of 15% of shares," concluded Kogan.

Kogan received 14 billion rubles for six years (at 6% per annum) and 67 billion for 10 years (0.5%) from the Deposit Insurance Agency in order to perform the rehabilitation.

The deal to transfer control of FC was delayed due to lengthy approval procedures with different regulators; its finishing will take two or three months more, says a person close to Uralsib. In fact, control of the FC now belongs to Kogan, but de jure it still belongs to Tsvetkov, he points out. According to SPARK, Tsvetkov directly owns 5.33% of shares, and 88% through offshore companies. Kogan's representative didn't specify whether Tsvetkov would retain his share in FC, and Tsvetkov or his representative could not be reached for comment.

In March 2016 it was announced that  BFA Bank, Uralsib and Bashprombank will operate as a banking group by mid-2017 This is the first precedent of a merge of a rehabilitated bank to healthy ones. "We have agreed with the Central Bank to combine three banks in the group, it's a universal bank Uralsib," assured Kogan in November 2016.

Uralsib has a self-reliant banking business, and there's no apparent critical need for the bank to legally record its historical "family ties" with members of FC companies; though, given the predominantly financial profile of the latter, perhaps it would help to achieve greater synergy," says Moody's analyst Olga Ulyanova.