OREANDA-NEWS. November 13, 2012. VTB’s regional network reform, which was launched last year, is designed to improve the quality of customer service and maximise the focus of regional points of sale in order to grow their business. To this end the bank is converting a section of its branches into regional operational offices, and centralising service and operation functions in specially created operational support centres (OSC), reported the press-centre of VTB. 

Before the launch of the reform in July 2011, VTB Bank had 51 branches across its entire network (not including the Northwestern Federal District). Currently nine branches have been converted into operational offices, in Chelyabinsk, Kaluga, Bryansk, Volgograd, Irkutsk, Tyumen, Ryazan, Saransk and Saratov. By March 2013 the restructuring of the network should be completed and VTB Bank should have seven branches remaining across the country (one in each federal district) and 44 regional operational offices. In addition, the bank has already opened three OSCs, in Ulan-Ude, Voronezh and Nizhny Novgorod.

Deputy President and Chairman of the VTB Management Board Mikhail Oseevskiy said: “VTB’s regional network serves over 80,000 corporate clients, to whom the Bank has issued loans of RUB 700 billion and provided over RUB 200 billion of bank guarantees and letters of credit. The aim of the reform is to reduce the costs of the regional network and improve customer service. The first interim results indicate that we are succeeding in this task.”

Member of VTB Bank Management Board Chaba Zentai said: “The costs of reforming the regional network should be recouped within three years. We expect the annual savings that will come about as a result of the reform to total RUB 1.2 billion. Our goal is to increase within a year the proportion of loans in Russia’s regions to 6.5% from the current 5.5%.”