OREANDA-NEWS. VTB Bank ("VTB" or "the Bank"), the parent company of VTB Group ("the Group"), today publishes its Consolidated Financial Statements with the Independent Auditors’ Report on these Statements for the year ended 31 December 2016.

Andrey Kostin, VTB President and Chairman of the Management Board, said: “VTB Group maintained a firm trajectory towards increased profitability throughout 2016, delivering RUB 51.6 billion of net profit for the full year and continuing to strengthen core revenue generation despite a prolonged challenging market environment.

“The management team remains focused on strict control over costs even as business activity accelerates. In addition to measures being implemented across business lines we are delivering synergies from the completed integration of Bank of Moscow. This had a positive impact on our performance, as revenue outgrew costs.

“The launch of Post Bank in January 2016 has been an all-around success, and the bank recorded a profit in its first year of operations. By the end of the year Post Bank had achieved an impressive rapid roll-out of over 6,300 outlets.

“VTB Capital remains the number one investment bank in Russia, once again leading DCM, ECM and M&A league tables in 2016.

“We adopted a new strategy for 2017-2019 that focuses on increasing efficiency and profitability, achieving greater scale in Retail banking and a large-scale technological transformation. The announced integration of VTB24 into VTB Bank will help optimise the structure of the Group’s retail business as well as create significant costs synergies.

“With Russia’s economic outlook turning positive, I have full confidence that VTB Group is in an excellent position to benefit as we continue to grow and adapt our business, providing the full spectrum of banking services to our clients across all business segments.”