OREANDA-NEWS. August 10, 2009. Last week the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) registered the merger of MDM Bank and URSA Bank, marking the successful completion of the transaction and creating the merged bank, which will maintain the name MDM Bank, reported the press-centre of MDM Bank.

The Merged Bank becomes the largest privately-owned bank in Russia by retail term deposits and retail loans, and second by total assets and total capital, according to Russian Accounting Standards (RAS) as of 1 June 2009. The bank’s branch network is one of the biggest in Russia, comprising 370 offices in more than 160 cities.

The CBR registration comes ahead of schedule and marks the final legal step in the transaction, which was announced on 3 December 2008. The schedule of one of Russia’s largest banking mergers was accelerated due to overwhelming support from shareholders, creditors and regulators alike, as well as efforts of the experienced teams of the both banks.

On 7 August 2009, the Merged Bank’s Board of Directors elected its Chairman and committee members, including the following decisions:

Oleg Viyugin was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of MDM Bank;

Alexander Doumnov appointed Chairman of Audit Committee; Luqman Arnold appointed Chairman of Strategy Committee, Lars Gronstedt appointed Chairman of the Nominations and Remunerations Committee;

Igor Kim will head the Management Board of MDM Bank.

The candidacies of Igor Kim and the remaining management board members are pending CBR approval.

New MDM Bank retail lending program.
Together with completion of the merger, a new large-scale retail lending program under the motto ‘banks merge – people win!’ has been launched. The new program is designed to meet consumer demand for contemporary lending programs, which have not been available since the beginning of the financial crisis. The program will capitalize on the rich universal banking experience of both of the merging financial institutions.

At the initial stage, the new program will cover the Siberian and Urals Territorial Banks.

Additional Information for MDM Bank Eurobond holders and preferred shareholders
Upon CBR registration of the merger by accession of MDM Bank into URSA Bank and the subsequent renaming of URSA Bank back to MDM Bank, all assets and liabilities of both banks have been transferred by a transfer deed, registered by the CBR, to the surviving legal entity. Bondholders and preferred shareholders of both banks are not required to take any actions in connection with completion of the merger: all rights related to all bond and preferred share issues of both banks remain unchanged. At the same time, the ticker for the URSA Bank Eurobonds and preferred shares will be changed on their respective exchanges to reflect the name change to MDM Bank.