MOSCOW, February 28, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Flagship United Card wins Credit Card of the Year 2013

CREDIT BANK OF MOSCOW (CBM) has been named Bank of the Year 2013 by leading Russian banking information portal Banki.ru. In addition, CBM's flagship United Card credit card took the award for credit card of the year, beating off some 800 other nominees.

CBM was nominated for its track record of growth as one of Russia's leading independent lenders, and for the trust and respect that the Bank and its founder and majority shareholder Roman Avdeev have built up over the past 20 years.

 "We are honoured to have won this award, which once again underscores our Bank's reputation as one of the safest and most reliable on the Russian market," CBM CEO Vladimir Chubar said.

"I would like to thank our team of professionals, who strive to provide better service to our clients every day. Winning prestigious awards such as this one is a great incentive to continue growing our business and offering innovative products and services to our customers."

In the Credit Card of the Year category, the judges cited the convenience and ease of obtaining CBM's United Card, as well as its low fees and attractive terms and conditions, including rewards for making purchases and interest on positive account balances.

"We have made great progress in rolling out new technology and services to make our products more accessible and convenient for clients," said CBM Deputy CEO Alexey Kosyakov. "We are excited about the innovations that we are planning to bring to market in the near future and which we believe will set new standards for the credit-card business in Russia."

United Card is a combined Visa and MasterCard credit card with additional deposit functionality and a generous interest-free period of 55 days for purchases and cash withdrawals. Card-holders pay a one-time fee of just RUB 650 (about USD 18) and 3% to withdraw cash.

For reference

CREDIT BANK OF MOSCOW (CBM) is one of the leading privately owned universal banks in Russia, and focuses on providing banking products and services to corporate clients and individuals in Moscow and the Moscow Region. CBM's corporate banking business is primarily focused on retail and wholesale trading corporate customers, enabling CBM to capitalize on the fast-growing Russian consumer market. CBM's rapidly growing retail business is focused on consumer loans to high quality retail clients, with a particular emphasis on cross-sales of retail products to the employees and clients of its corporate customers.

CBM offers a comprehensive range of banking services, including lending, deposit-taking, cash handling, international settlements, trade finance, guarantees and other products. By leveraging its leading cash handling platform and payment terminal network, CBM is able to monitor the cash flows and payment histories of its customer as well as, in the case of many of its retail customers, their employers, supporting strong portfolio performance and asset quality.

According to Interfax 100, as at 30 September 2013, CBM is one of the top five privately owned Russian banks, measured by total assets. As at 30 September 2013, CBM had assets of RUB 400.8 billion and equity of RUB 47.4 billion. Its Tier 1 capital ratio was 12.1%, and its total capital ratio 18.0%. Nonperforming loans stood at 1.2%. In the first nine months of 2013, CBM recorded net profit of RUB 5.63 billion, generating a return on equity of 17.3%. CBM has a strong track record in international capital markets, issuing its debut Eurobond in 2006. The Bank is currently rated BB- with a Stable outlook by S&P; B1 with a Stable outlook by Moody's; and BB with a Stable outlook by Fitch.

CBM was founded in 1992 and acquired by Mr. Roman Avdeev in 1994. Mr. Avdeev beneficially owns 85% of CBM's shares. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, International Finance Corporation (IFC) and RBOF Holding Company I, Ltd. (100% owned by the IFC Russian Bank Capitalization Fund belonging to the same group of companies as the IFC) hold 15% of CBM's shares and are represented on CBM's Supervisory Board alongside five independent non-executive directors.

For more information, please visit http://mkb.ru/en/

Enquiries

CREDIT BANK OF MOSCOW

Investors

Elena Finashina
Finashina@mkb.ru
+7-495-797-4222 ext. 6202
+7-910-468-5097

Sergey Lukyanov
Lukyanov@mkb.ru
+7-495-797-4222 ext. 6223

Media

Nikita Likov
LikovNS@mkb.ru
+7-926-579-87-82

EM

Moscow

Tom Blackwell
blackwell@em-comms.com  
+7-919-102-9064

London

Peter Morley
morley@em-comms.com
+44-7927-186645

SOURCE CREDIT BANK OF MOSCOW