Belarus – Development Bank registers profit of €130 mln for 2012, Prime Minister to head supervisory board of Development Bank, Central bank wants Belarus to be included in PayPal system, Government to reimburse Belarusbank for loan losses with Spartak paper mill, MTBank places new bonds

At a presentation held in Minsk on 28 January, Sergei Rumas, the chairman of the board of Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus (ААТ “Банк развiцця Рэспублiкi Беларусь”), revealed that the bank recorded a net profit of almost 1.5 tln BYR (€ 132 mln) in 2012, the highest among banks in Belarus.  Rumas  also stated that the bank’s return on assets in 2012 was 5.7%, and that the bank’s assets at yearend amounted to more than 26 tln BYR (€ 2.3 bln).  (1 EUR equaled 11340 BYR as of 31 Dec. 2012.)

At the meeting Rumas also announced that the next head of the bank’s board of supervisors will be Mikhail Myasnikovich, the prime minister of Belarus.  The bank, established by presidential decree in June 2011, is owned 95% by the government and 5% by the central bank.

Sources:

Прибыль Банка развития в 2012 году составила Br1,5 трлн. (2013-01-28 19:26)

Главой Набсовета Банка развития станет Михаил Мясникович (2013-01-28 15:02)

In other news, on 28 January it was revealed that the central bank, the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus (Нацыянальны банк Рэспублiкi Беларусь), has contacted PayPal in order to discuss the possibility of Belarus being included in the PayPal online payment system.  Revisions to the country’s Banking Code that went into effect on 22 January permit Belarusian banks to engage in the “putting into circulation (issuing) of electronic money” (“выпуск в обращение (эмиссия) электронных денег”).

At present PayPal accepts accounts from 190 countries, but Belarus is not among them.  Residents of Belarus wishing to use PayPal have developed a workaround: when establishing an account, for “Country” one selects either “Russia” or “Lithuania”, and then under “State/Province/Territory” one writes in “Belarus”.

Sources:

Нацбанк готов обсудить с PayPal работу платежной системы в Беларуси (2013-01-28)

Revisions to Banking Code, enacted on 13 July 2012 and in force from 22 January 2013: Закон Республики Беларусь 13 июля 2012 г. № 416-З: О внесении дополнений и изменений в Банковский кодекс Республики Беларусь (2012-07-21)

In earlier news, on 24 January there was published a decision of the Council of Ministers, voted on 21 January, according to which the state will compensate the commercial bank Belarusbank (ААТ «ААБ Беларусбанк») for losses incurred on loans to JSC Paper Mill Spartak (ОАО «Бумажная фабрика «Спартак»).  The compensation will come in the form of a revolving credit line of of 17,221,000 euros in export credits, available between 2013 and 2015.

Source:

Государство возместит Беларусбанку потери от кредита Бумажной фабрике "Спартак" на 17,2 млн. евро (2013-01-24 15:27)

Also on 24 January, the Belarussian Currency and Stock Exchange announced that on 25 January placement would begin for five new bond issues by the commercial bank MTBank (ЗАО «МТБанк»).  The five issues are the following:

BY52682А5850: 4,000 bonds of nominal value USD 1,000 each

BY52682А5876: 1,500 bonds of nominal value EUR 1,000 each

BY52682А5868: 60,000 bonds of nominal value BYR 1,000,000 each

BY52682А5884: 1,000 bonds of nominal value USD 1,000 each

BY52682А5892: 1,500 bonds of nominal value EUR 1,000 each

MTBank is owned 65.02% by Atlant-M International Automobile Holding («Атлант-М Международный автомобильный холдинг») and 33.95% by Emerging Europe Growth Fund, LP, which in turn is partly owned by the U.S. government via the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

Sources:

Допускаются к размещению и обращению на бирже облигации 13-го, 14-го, 15-го, 16-го и 17-го выпусков ЗАО "МТБанк" (2013-01-24)

Руководство банка - Акционеры ЗАО «МТБанк»

Mark Pleas

Eastern Europe Banking & Deposits Consultant

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