FYI there's a lot of shady shit going down in Russian banks at the moment. The gossip is that the deposit protection scheme for regular bank deposits is out of cash.
http://www.bdlive.co.za/world/europe/2014/01/10/russia-revokes-siberian-banks-licence
MOSCOW — Russian regulators have cancelled the licence of AKB Novokuznetsk Municipal Bank (NMB), saying that the Siberian lender made high-risk loans and allowed its owners to borrow from the company.
The Russian central bank said in a statement on its website on Thursday that NMB was running "a high-risk credit policy" and not adequately creating reserves for possible loan losses. The bank, which was among Russia’s top 300 lenders by assets as of last month, did not fulfil its obligations to creditors and depositors because of insufficient cash flow, the regulator said.
NMB said depositors with as much as 700,000 rubles ($21,000) are entitled to a full reimbursement from the Deposit Insurance Agency.
Payments would begin by January 23, the agency said on its website. NMB’s press office did not respond to calls seeking further comment.
The regulator has accelerated its crackdown since November 29 when it revoked the licence of Master Bank, Russia’s 41st largest lender by assets, for money-laundering violations. Midsize lenders Project Financing Bank and Smolensky Bank were also shuttered on December 13, and Investbank was closed after failing capital adequacy reviews.
The central bank has revoked about 30 banking licences since July 1 when Elvira Nabiullina succeeded Sergey Ignatiev as governor, compared with three in the first half of the year. She is striving to tighten regulation of banks and curtail net capital outflow, forecast at about $55bn last year.
NMB, which focused on the Kemerovo region of Siberia, was set up in 1994 and provides services to firms and individuals, according to its website.
An unidentified NMB director is being probed for allegedly transferring cash from the bank to other lenders in Russia to repay debts, according to a statement on Thursday by the Russian Investigative Committee. This had resulted in depriving the bank of sufficient reserves to cover its clients’ loans, according to the statement.
