OREANDA-NEWS. March 29, 2012.  After preterm review of FundServiceBank’s credit ratings RusRating had held it on earlier level: "A-" on the national and "BB+" on international scale along with stable outlooks in both cases. The unscheduled review of the Bank’s accounts and financial condition was carried out by the agency in response to negative media coverage of FundServiceBank (a number of articles about official investigations into the illegal laundering operations of more than RUB 100bn via the Bank) after 15 March 2012.

 RusRating notes that neither the Bank’s current accounts nor any accounts reviewed since analysis began in 2004 show signs of such transactions. In particular, FundServiceBank has traditionally reported only minimal securities market activity. Securities holdings at mid-March totalled RUB 3.8bn (approx. 6% of assets), of which 84% (RUB 3.2bn) was federal government debt and the remainder was bank veksels (promissory notes). Share holdings are nil. Turnover in securities averages RUB 600mn per month, indicating that the papers are held for investment and liquidity management rather than trading and speculative operations.

 RusRating considers a rather modest cash turnover in the Bank (RUB 7 bn in a month as compared with RUB 95 bn at the same pace in non-cash operations) technically impossible for laundering and other illegal activities the police were going to uncover.

 Nor were there any statements from financial authorities (Central Bank, Rosfinmonitoring, anti-trust bodies) affirming police allegations about FundServiceBank’s supposed involvement in the case under investigation. The Central Bank has recently – at the year-turn – checked the activities FundServiceBank’s financial performance and statements and accounting practice. The Central Bank’s inspection has shown that the Bank’s operations and their presentation in accounting documents are free from any material misstatement, whether due to fraud or error.