OREANDA-NEWS. June 15, 2010. According to senior RusRating analyst Victoria Belozerova, the rating is based on the image support provided by RZD Russian Railways; stable ties to that company’s operating units, subsidiaries and partners; a strong capital base; and current liquidity independent of the interbank and securities markets.

Potentially destabilising factors include a business narrowly focused on firms in the transport sector, high exposure to political risks arising from dependence on the state-owned railway company, and uncertainty about the financial resources of the Bank’s beneficiary owners.

Millennium Bank is a smaller (by assets) private-sector Moscow bank that (according to official documents) has been controlled since 2008 by the SK Most Group, RZD Russian Railways’ largest contractor; minority stakes are held by a number of senior Bank executives. The Board of Directors is chaired by RZD Vice-President Oleg Toni and the Management Board by Mikhail Baidakov, an advisor to the President of RZD, while the audit commission is chaired by Russian Federation senator Sergei Scheblygin, who is also an advisor to RZD’s President. The Bank’s core business is the provision of services to RZD operating divisions, subsidiaries and business partners.

ZAO RusRating is an independent rating agency accredited by the National Securities Market Association. The company was set up in 2001 and is a member of the GlobalRating group, which also includes rating agencies in Kazakhstan (KzRating), Armenia (AmRating) and Azerbaijan (AzeriRating). Its primary services are the provision of credit ratings to banks, leasing and industrial companies, and bonds, along with analysis of various aspects of the Russian financial sector.