OREANDA-NEWS. June 25, 2013. At the AGM the shareholders of Center-invest Bank approved the new composition of the Board of Directors, agreed to a dividend payment for 2012, and approved the joint stock company’s annual report and financial statements for 2012.

Center-invest Bank paid a total of RUB250.75m in dividends, equivalent to 23% of its annual profits. Dividends on ordinary shares totalled RUB232.65m, calculated at three rubles per share with a par value of ten rubles (30% of par). A total RUB18.098 was paid out on preference shares (20% of par).

The AGM also approved the annual report and financial statements for 2012 and elected a seven-person Board of Directors. The returning board members are: independent director Ernste Welteke; Dr Vasily Vysokov (Professor and Doctor of Economics), Tatiana Vysokova (PhD in Economics and Reader), Michael Neumayr (Doctor of Law), and Andreas Zeisler. Olga Vysokova and Dr Hans Unterdorfer were newly elected to the Board. This planned rotation of the members of the Board of Directors supports the implementation of programmes to create a common central and eastern European financial space, on the basis of best international practice.

Center-invest Bank is the largest regional bank in southern Russia and one of the top 50 banks in the whole country (out of approximately 1200 banks). Its shareholders include: the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), which owns 27.45% of the voting shares of the bank, the German Investment and Development Company (DEG) — 22.45%, Dr Vasily Vysokov and Mrs Tatiana Vysokova — 17.85%, Erste Group Bank (Austria) — 9.8%, and CJSC Depositary Clearing Company (Moscow, nominee shareholder) — 8.1%. Center-invest Bank’s branch network comprises 140 branches and sub-branches in the Rostov and Volgograd Regions, Krasnodar Krai and Stavropol Krai. The bank also has representative offices in Moscow and London.