Chief of Russian bank association denies crisis

There was no system banking crisis in Russia, Gagerin Tosunyan, president of the Russian Bank Association, said at the ninth northwest bank conference which opened in St. Petersburg on Thursday.

"When the system develops, problems certainly arise. But there is no need to extend them to the whole system and say that it is an end for the system," he said, adding that this is a very harmful and dangerous tendency.

"This counter-propaganda which befell the national banking system in the past two months, is particularly regrettable. Any sneeze, any cold on the market, especially false ones, were presented as mortal and incurable," Mr. Tosunyan said expressing the hope that it was already in the past.

At the same time, he added, "we should assess the events that happened when certain representatives of some banks tried to use the situation to re-distribute their clientele in their favor. We will expose these facts on a documentary basis."

In particular, he said, on July 13 the Russian Bank Association hosted an emergency session of the Moscow part of the Russian Bank Association Council and of the Moscow Banking Council, which discussed business ethics.

"Moreover, on July 12, I met the Central Bank chairman, and we agreed to use the opportunities of the Central Bank to establish where massive attempts were made to win over clients. We will not only assess this, but also take intra-corporate measures," Mr. Tosunyan promised.