OREANDA-NEWS. The majority shareholders of TRUST Investment Bank (TIB) and National Bank TRUST (NBT) have announced that they have initiated the process of merging the banks into one financial institution. It is expected that the merger will be completed with all necessary regulatory and legal approvals by the beginning of 2008. The fully merged bank will operate under the name of National Bank TRUST (TRUST).

According to Ilya Yurov, Chairman of the Board of Directors of both Banks, “this merger will have a positive effect on all of TRUST’s current and future lines of business as it will allow the bank to develop all key commercial and investment banking activities. The combined Bank will have sufficient capital to meet the growth expectations of management for at least another two years”.

Upon completing the merger, the key financial indicators of TRUST will be significantly enhanced and improved. The expected combined assets of the bank will be in excess of 120 billion rubles at the end of 2007 while shareholders’ equity will reach 16 billion rubles, putting the bank among the Top 20 largest Russian banks by assets and capital.

The integrated TRUST will become one of the leading regional Russian banks. By the end of the year, the bank expects to be fully operational in 160 cities across Russia expanding further to 220 cities by the end of 2008.

The main asset growth driver will come from the diversified retail (car, cash & mortgages) and SME lending portfolios. Another important component to this strategy is the further development of our asset management franchise by capitalizing on the Bank’s regional origination and global distribution platform.

The majority shareholders of each bank will remain the majority shareholders of TRUST. In the Bank’s new management structure, Ilya Yurov will become Chairman of the integrated bank’s Board of Directors, Nikolai Fetisov will become President and Chairman of the Management Committee. Michael Eggleton will become the Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Management Board of the combined Bank.