Russian bank presenting new brand

01/11/2006 Karapet TOMIKYAN

On October 27, the Russian “Vneshtorgbank” presented its brand (VTB) in Armenia/Marriott hotel. According to elder deputy president of the bank, Vasili Titov, “Changing the brand of the VTB was strategic for them” since all of the branches of the bank will have the same brand (in Africa, Europe and Asia). All the branches of the bank will have the same standards for service and prices will stay the same.

“We are not satisfied with everything that we have done” said V. Titov. Titov means that the bank still has a lot of work to do. In a short-term period, the bank is going to make the information technologies used in banks more simple and install a new informational network.

The Russian bank owns only 70% of the Armenian branch of the VTB bank (former Armsavingsbank) and is the second bank in Armenia with its number of deposits. This bank has 100 small branches throughout Armenia and is the leading bank in Armenia with its capacity. Mr. Titov said that their bank took in the capital of almost all Russian representations in Armenia.

The regional representations of this bank are currently not satisfied with their work and are impatiently waiting to see who the next owner of the Armenian share of bank (30%) will be. People hope that if all the stocks are given to the Russians, their wages may be increased, working conditions may be improved, etc. As for the VTB, it hasn’t made a final decision yet.

As for corporative management systems in banks, the representatives of the VTB said that they had to follow the law of Armenia. The bank already has a board of directors, independent directors, etc. The Russian VTB bank promises to issue 1,5-2 year-term corporative privileges, however they haven’t mentioned any details yet.