In the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin discussed the status of the credit institution with Andrey Kostin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of VTB Bank. Photo: Alexander Kazakov / Press Service of the President of the Russian Federation / TASS
In the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin discussed the status of the credit institution with Andrey Kostin, Chairman of the Board of Directors of VTB Bank.
– VTB has historically been dedicated mainly to attending foreign trade activities, in this sense, it was linked to a great extent to those clients that work in this area, to foreign infrastructure. What situation is VTB in now? asked the president, clearly acknowledging the difficulty of the past year.
– Since the fourth quarter of last year, we have been working with profit, – Kostin answered shortly.
The banker said that after the ban on operations with dollars and euros, VTB began to develop settlements in rubles and “currencies of friendly countries.” In general, the bank is present in China, India and some CIS countries.
The head of VTB Kostin fully agreed with the president. Photo: Alexander Kazakov / Press Service of the President of the Russian Federation / TASS
But most importantly, after the sanctions, “the bank increased its sovereignty.”
– Look at what is happening now in the United States: in fact, the biggest banking financial crisis since 2008, and it is already spreading to Europe. This is exactly what we are talking about, that sanctions are double-edged,” Kostin said.
– But our banking sector feels safe. I don’t think there’s any problem, he added.
– The increase in the level of independence, sovereignty, perhaps, happened in time, taking into account the negative trends that are growing in the US banking system, – emphasized Vladimir Vladimirovich.