News

On October 22, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin visited an Alfa-Bank branch in Novosibirsk as part of his visit to the region. It was Mr. Putin’s first visit to a branch of a private Russian bank. Mr. Putin met Alfa-Bank’s President Petr Aven and the Bank’s top management representatives.

At the meeting, Prime Minister Putin and Mr. Aven discussed the Russian financial sector, and the state’s involvement in providing stability to Russia’s banking system.

Mr. Putin noted that as Alfa-Bank has had wide access to state subsidies, it is in fact assuming the role as a paying agent for the Government. Alfa-Bank’s President Petr Aven assured Vladimir Putin that the state allocated funds are and will be continue to be used to extend credit to individual and corporate customers, and that it is not in the interests of the Bank to reduce the volume of loans, including those to small and mid-size businesses, subject to the reliability of the borrowers.

The prime minister remarked on the dynamic working style of Alfa-Bank’s branches, and in particular the accessibility of the bank’s high-tech products, such as its Alfa-Click service that allows customers to manage their accounts over the Internet and the Alfa-Mobile mobile phone service.

Speaking with the Bank’s customers on site, Vladimir Putin advised them to place their uncommitted funds in ruble deposits. The head of the government expressed his confidence in the stability of the Russian national currency and in its advantage over the dollar or the euro.

At the end of his visit, Mr. Putin thanked all the customers and workers at the bank who had contributed their own funds to the Life Line charity to help seriously ill children, and gave his best wishes to Alfa-Bank and all of its employees.