Volga-Kama Bank

2024: Bankruptcy Completion

The Arbitration Court ruled on the completion of bankruptcy proceedings against Samara OJSC Interregional Volga-Kama Bank for Reconstruction and Development (VKB). The document was published on June 5, 2024 in the court's electronic file cabinet, which means the end of the bankruptcy procedure of the credit institution.

According to Kommersant, the Volga-Kama Bank lost its license from the Central Bank of the Russian Federation in November 2013, and was declared bankrupt in December 2013, after which bankruptcy proceedings were opened against it. The amount of creditors' claims against the bank exceeded 5.6 billion rubles, but during the bankruptcy proceedings it was possible to return only a little more than 1 billion rubles to the creditors of the first stage.

source = Volga News

According to the bankruptcy trustee, 435 million rubles of the returned funds went to the bankruptcy estate from the sale of VKB assets, including claims, real estate and vehicles.

Earlier, at the request of the Deposit Insurance Agency, the arbitration court decided to recover 2.1 billion rubles from five persons who controlled the Volga-Kama Bank, including ex-chairman of the board Vladimir Chekmarev, as compensation for losses caused to the financial institution. However, the actual recovery of these funds was not carried out, since subsequently all five controlling persons went through personal bankruptcy proceedings.

According to Kommersant, after the revocation of the license from the VKB, law enforcement agencies opened a number of criminal cases related to the activities of the bank. Thus, the former first vice-president of the Volga-Kama Bank, Oleg Nazarov, was found guilty by the court of abuse of power and fraud and sentenced to four years in prison in a general regime colony.

The investigation found that Nazarov entered into fictitious loan agreements with 29 individuals and 2 legal entities, as a result of which about 180 million rubles were stolen from the bank. Another criminal case related to the VKB was dismissed in 2023 due to the expiration of the statute of limitations.

As Kommersant noted, the completion of bankruptcy proceedings against the Volga-Kama Bank draws a line under the long-term bankruptcy process, during which creditors managed to return only a small part of their funds, and some former bank leaders were prosecuted for their illegal actions.^[1]

2020: Sovcombank acquires 91% stake in VKA Bank

Sovcombank announced in March 2020 the closure of the transaction on the acquisition of 91% of the shares of Volga-Caspian Joint Stock Bank JSC from a group of key shareholders and managers of the bank. The deal was previously agreed with the Bank of Russia. Sovcombank plans to significantly strengthen its position in the region on the basis of the VKA business.

"The acquisition of VKA Bank is in line with our multi-year strategy to buy smaller quality banks at attractive prices. Development in the region will intensify both in the retail and corporate business segments, "said Sergey Khotimsky, co-owner and first deputy chairman of the board of Sovcombank.

2014

By 2014, Volga-Kama Bank has been operating for 23 years and is one of the oldest credit institutions in the Samara province. The bank's divisions operate in the cities of Samara, Togliatti, Saratov, Novokuybyshevsk, Pokhvistnevo and Kinel.

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