Vnesheconombank and European Bank for Reconstruction and Development Sign Memorandum on Cooperation
Today on February 13, State Corporation ‘Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs (Vnesheconombank)’ and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) entered into a Memorandum on Cooperation.
The Memorandum was signed by Vnesheconombank Chairman Vladimir Dmitriev and EBRD President Jean Lemierre
Under the Memorandum the two sides are determined to jointly finance projects in transport infrastructure, power engineering, communal services and environment protection as well as projects that would contribute to the Russian economy’s diversification and its innovative development.
In order to cooperate effectively in carrying out investment projects including those within public private partnership the two sides agreed to further work out optimal mechanisms for financing projects’ initial stages.
Under the Memorandum Vnesheconombank and the EBRD are also determined to explore the possibilities to jointly finance projects in the Russian regions aimed among other things at supporting small and medium-sized business.
The Memorandum also provides for establishing a joint working group, which will be responsible for promoting cooperation and coordination between the two financial institutions.
As Vnesheconombank Chairman Vladimir Dmitriev stressed, the signing of the Memorandum creates favorable conditions for joining forces, intellect and best practices of the two financial institutions.
The EBRD President said that “our cooperation is supposed to speed up the very economic processes for encouraging which our both banks were established. There are a lot of things we can and must learn from each other and Russia is in a position to hope that our joint efforts would have a profound impact on the development of Russia’s key economic sectors”.
Vnesheconombank’s participation in implementing the Memorandum signed is in line with the Bank’s principles, its main lines of business and industrial priorities of its investment activity stipulated in the Memorandum on the Bank’s Financial Policy.
The EBRD’s investment instruments owned by 61 countries and two international organizations are being used to build market-oriented economy and democracy in 29 countries ranging from Central Europe to Central Asia.
Origin: Press Office of Vnesheconombank
Contact person: Svetlana Nikitina
Phone: +7 (495) 608-46-93, Fax: +7 (495) 975-21-34
E-mail: press@veb.ru
Fitch Ratings-London / Moscow-07 February 2008: Fitch Ratings has today affirmed the ratings of Russia's Vnesheconombank ("VEB") at Long-term Issuer Default (IDR) 'BBB+', Short-term IDR 'F2', Support '2' and Support Rating Floor 'BBB+'. The Outlook for the Long-term IDR is Stable. VEB's IDRs are equalised with those of the Russian sovereign, reflecting Fitch's view of the extremely high propensity of the Russian authorities to provide support in case of need. This view is based on VEB's status as a policy bank and important new role as a national development bank with the goals of promoting the competitiveness and diversification of the Russian economy.
Although VEB's balance sheet is likely to change significantly as it evolves into its role as a development bank, it is currently highly concentrated, both in terms of loan exposures and occasional substantial equity investments. VEB has also been active during the last few years in financing the acquisitions by Russian state-owned companies of oil and gas assets; these large transactions compromise VEB's balance sheet integrity and expose the bank to substantial credit risk. VEB's considerable securities trading activities have also resulted in high earnings volatility, while interest income has come under pressure from higher funding costs.
The bank's capital and liquidity profiles are strong following a RUR180bn equity injection from the state at end-2007, and VEB is currently an important supplier of liquidity to the Russian banking sector. Furthermore, reported loan impairment has been low to date, supported by favourable economic conditions.
VEB was established by the Russian State and in 2007 was assigned the role of a development bank. It continues to perform agency functions for foreign debt payments and for pension savings management, but these functions are to be transferred to other agencies.
Fitch's rating definitions and the terms of use of such ratings are available on the agency's public site, www.fitchratings.com. Published ratings, criteria and methodologies are available from this site, at all times. Fitch's code of conduct, confidentiality, conflicts of interest, affiliate firewall, compliance and other relevant policies and procedures are also available from the 'Code of Conduct' section of this site.