OREANDA-NEWS. November 05, 2009. RusRating assigns credit rating of BB- (stable outlook) to Gazenergobank (Kaluga).

According to RusRating analyst Svetlana Osipova, positive factors include the unconditional backing of ProbusinessBank and the Deposit Insurance Agency under a rehabilitation programme plus a decent capital base.

Potentially destabilising factors include the large percentage of funding drawn from retail deposits, which are sensitive to potential negative reports about the Bank; a possible decline in loan book quality; the unstable structure of revenues and expenditures; and low profitability.

OAO Gazenergobank is a smaller (by assets) private-sector regional bank and a member of the LIFE group, which also includes Express-Volga Bank (Saratov), VUZ-Bank (Yekaterinburg), Ivanovski Oblastnoi Bank (Ivanovo), Bank24.ru (Yekaterinburg) and Moscow-based ProbusinessBank, the major national financial institution at the head of the group. Gazenergobank itself focuses on loans and other services for corporate and retail clients, mainly in the Kaluga region, and its market positions at the regional level are moderately well-developed. The Bank is not active in the speculative markets.