Borodin departs as Bank of Moscow President

The Tverskoy Court of Moscow has temporarily suspended Bank of Moscow President Andrei Borodin and First Vice President Dmitry Akulinin from their duties Press Secretary Yekaterina Ilina has told Interfax

“The court ruling that A. Borodin and D. Akulinin be temporarily suspended has been fulfilled. According to the motion, A. Borodin and D. Akulinin, the president and firstvicepresidentoftheBankofMoscow,exercisedtheir authority in defiance of the bank's lawful interests and with the aim of advantageandpropertyforotherpersons,whichcaused substantial harm to the lawful interests of shareholders and certainof the legal responsibilityinterests of thestate in thepersonof the Moscow government,”On Sunday, 9 April, Borodin told the Vesti TV channel that he was forced to sell 20.3% stake in Bank of Moscow, which he owns jointly with his advisor Leo Alaluevym, with a big discount.“I sold the stake two times cheaper than it has been estimated. The competition for stake control intensified and aggravated the price of shares on the market. Many investors left the race unwilling to buy the stake at a market price.”Borodin refused to unveil the cost of a deal although Vitaly Yusufov, son of a former Minister of Energy, Igor Yusufov, confirmed a deal to Vedomosti adding he would look to increase the stake in the future“I have purchased a 19.91% stake in Bank of Moscow, and will consider other opportunities to increase the stake. Under the deal conditions, I became an owner of the companies holding shares in the Bank of Moscow”Yusufov added that as one of core shareholders he looking to become Bank of Moscow president“According to the size of the stake -19.91%- We are admitted to hold minimum 2 seats in the board of directors. I will promote myself for a position and another non-public candidate” Kostin, Head of VTB bank, said that the final decision on Borodin’s resignation will be approved at a shareholders meeting on April 21 followed by election of a new Bank Of Moscow president. “Borodin will be officially signed off from his presidential duties on April 21 during the shareholders meeting. The shareholders will vote for a new presidential post incumbent for the Bank of Moscow. We expect Mikhail Kuzovlev, First Vice President of the Bank of Moscow and former Deputy President of VTB, to be among the candidates assuming that over 70% of shareholders have already agreed on his candidature” Deputy Director, Center for Political Technologies, Aleksei Makarkin says that this discounted transaction is a deliberated manoeuvre with Yusufov potentially representing other interests.“Vitaly Yusufov may be attracted as a 3rd party participant in the deal – his task is to ease tensions between the Bank of Moscow and VTB.”Alexandra Lozovaya, analyst InvestCafe, noted that the 19.91% stake was worth 37.1 billion roubles ($ 1.33 billion) on the market on April 11.