Two banks from Tatarstan enter the top 100 reliable ones
Forbes has published the ranking of the safest banks in Russia in 2019. The experts included two Tatarstan banks — Avers Bank was ranked the highest.
The rating is based on performance of banks in international and Russian rating agencies
100 Most Reliable Russian Banks is an annual Forbes rating. Experts study the ratings and financial performance of the largest banks in the country and evaluate them by the degree of reliability. If a year ago Tatarstan was represented by five credit institutions, two of them remained in the updated list — Avers Bank and Ak Bars Bank. Avers Bank has been ranked the highest, taking the 50th position.
The rating is based on performance of banks in international and Russian rating agencies, which are accredited by the Central Bank of Russia. As noted in Forbes, ''the rating of one of the agencies is the easiest way to assess the reliability of a bank.'' First, banks were selected from other ratings, as well as institutions whose assets exceed 30 billion rubles. If the bank is included in several ratings, the experts took into account the total number of the highest.
''The parameters that Forbes used to compile the rating are generally quite objective and transparent. The only question is that another rating agency can use a slightly different set of criteria or give a different weight to certain parameters, so to say that ''that technique is unambiguously bad, and this is flawless'', of course, is wrong. In general, the results obtained by Forbes are quite understandable and do not contain significant differences with the actual situation,'' explained analyst at FINAM GC Alexey Korenev.
''The positions of banks in the Forbes rating and the ratings of Russian media almost coincide with each other. There is no fundamental difference, except that the determining criterion in this rating is the presence of the credit rating of the bank and its debt obligations assigned by the international rating agency. In my opinion, the main criteria for determining the position of a bank in the all-Russian rating should be the value of assets, capital, net profit, capital adequacy ratio, return on capital and the share of deposits in the total volume of the bank's liabilities. Four of the six criteria, which I consider important for determining the reliability of the bank, are present in this rating, I believe that this is correct,'' commented Deputy Director of the Information and Analytical Centre at Alpari Natalia Milchakova.
All banks were divided into five groups according to reliability in accordance with the ratings and sizes of assets. The first group includes banks with BBB- and BB+ (Fitch) ratings — these are reliable rating participants. Among them there were subsidiaries of foreign banks and largest Russian banks. The first line was taken by UniCredit Bank, followed by Raiffeisenbank and Rosbank. The fourth — Sberbank, VTB rounded out the top five.
''The leading positions were taken by subsidiaries of large foreign banks. And here everything is quite obvious — the stability and financial power of the parent company inevitably extend to subsidiaries. Even taking into account the purely Russian specifics and local risks typical for our economy, the belonging to a transnational corporation inevitably provides the Russian representative office with a high reliability rating. The fourth and fifth places of Sberbank and VTB are also obvious — these are the largest credit institutions of the country. They have enormous financial and administrative resources. Under no circumstances the state will allow the leading banks, which serve, lend, have deposits and through which the main part of our citizens receives salaries, to collapse. So in general, the whole top ten of the rating is absolutely logical — it is either Russian representative offices of major foreign creditors, or domestic giants of this sphere with state participation and an extremely significant contribution to the domestic economy,'' continued analyst of FINAM GC Alexey Korenev.
''We assess this rating as a fairly convenient aggregator of information about banks, based on the estimates of international and Russian rating agencies. The objectivity of the bank's classification in a particular category depends on the quality of the financial institution's assessment by a rating agency. It is obvious that when placing funds in the bank, it is necessary to take into account a number of factors, including financial indicators, the information background around the bank, its relations with regulatory authorities, as well as geopolitical risks,'' BKS Premier financial analyst Sergey Deineka commented to Realnoe Vremya.
Avers Bank has the best performance in Tatarstan
The second group included banks with ratings BB and BB- (Fitch). These banks are rated as fairly reliable, but their sustainability depends largely on a favourable business environment. Even in the case of deterioration of economic environment they will continue to have access to alternative financial resources to fulfil their obligations. This group included Avers Bank, which took the 50th place. The high position of the Tatarstan credit institution is due to the rating of the international agency Fitch at the level of BB -, the outlook on the rating is ''stable''. As noted in the materials of the Fitch Agency, the rating takes into account the generally good financial performance of the bank, as indicated by sufficient capitalization, acceptable asset quality and profitability, as well as comfortable liquidity. In addition, the reliability of Avers Bank is confirmed by the rating agency Expert RA (RAEX) at the level of ruА- with a ''stable'' forecast. According to experts of the agency, the high rating of the bank is due to the high capital stock and high quality of assets, as well as an adequate liquid position.
Avers Bank has operated more than 28 years and is the reference and the estimated centre of TAIF Group. According to the news agency Банки.ру as of 01.01.2019, Avers Bank is ranked the 39th by profit and the 46 th by size of own funds (capital) among Russian banks and the second according to these indicators in the republic. In 2018, the bank's net profit amounted to 2,08 billion rubles. The reliability of the bank is controlled by the Bank of Russia through the established standards, which are fulfilled by Avers Bank with a large margin.
H1 indicator – the bank's own funds (capital) sufficiency, which indicates the protection of assets — exceeds the required level by more than four times and as of 01.01.2009 is 33,3% with an acceptable minimum of 8%. This high level indicates that the bank has a high potential for development. Liquidity indicators are also performed with a large margin: the instant liquidity ratio is 52,3% with an acceptable minimum of 15%, the current liquidity ratio is 128,3% with a minimum of 50%.
5 banks of Volga Federal District included in Forbes rating
The second ''representative'' of Tatarstan in the rating is Ak Bars Bank. It is ranked the 63rd in the group of banks with a rating of B+ (Fitch). Credit institutions of this group will have to rely on their own strength in case of problems. At the same time, they retain a limited cushion of liquidity, and in case of default, creditors have a greater chance to receive their investments in the process of bankruptcy and sale of assets.
This year, Forbes experts did not include Tatarstan Akibank, Tatsotsbank and Energobank among the most reliable banks, which were included in the rating last year.
In general, the Volga Federal District is represented by five banks: the 13-th line was taken by Samara Rusfinance Bank Ba1 (Moody's), AAA (ACRA), the 49th place is taken by Avers Bank with ruА- (Expert RA) BB- (Fitch), the 62nd line — Ak Bars Bank ruА- (Expert RA), B2 (Moody's), A- (ACRA), the 75 th — Nizhniy Novgorod Sarovbiznesbank ruА (Expert RA), the 92nd — Udmurt Bystrobank ruBB (Expert RA).