OREANDA-NEWS. January 24, 2008. According to RAS the total assets of Bank Saint Petersburg increased more than twice and exceeded RUR 125 billion (compared to RUR 60.6 billion as at 1 January 2007).

The profit before tax under RAS for 2007 reached RUR 3.033 billion, which is also more than two times higher comparing to 2006. This increase is due to the rise in net interest income, fee and commission income and income from trading securities.

According to RAS the Bank’s total capital as of 1 January 2008 increased 2.9 times compared to the beginning of 2007 and made up RUR 17.6 billion.

“The major driving force of the Bank’s total capital increase was an initial public offering, an event of significance for the Bank which was completed in the end of 2007,” Alexander Savelyev, the Chairman of the Management Board, believes. “As a result of the open subscription the Bank raised USD 274 million from Russian and international institutional investors,” he said.

Bank Saint Petersburg is one of the largest private universal banks in Saint Petersburg and Leningrad region, having local market share of 10% and 9% in terms of loans and deposits respectively as at 1 October 2007. At present the Bank has a “Ba3” credit rating (with “stable” outlook) by Moody’s and a “B” credit rating with “positive” outlook by Fitch. According to the results for the nine months of 2007 the Bank ranked 28th by assets as per RBC.Rating.