Russian VTB Bank considering selling its Serbian subsidiary

The second biggest bank in Russia, Vneshtorgbank (VTB) is considering selling its Serbian subsidiary, stated the bank's president Andrey Kostin at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

- We're not ruling out the possibility of selling the bank. The state's leadership wants us to keep it, but sooner or later we will have to close it down if it shows negative results – said Kostin, as the Russian agency Tass reports.

Kostin has also expressed his expectation that the central bank of Russia will further lower the interest rate in 2016 and added that it might fall down to 9.5% by the end of the year.

- We expect that the central bank will further lower the interest rate in 2016 and that it will fall down to 9.5% by the end of this year and to 7.0% in 2017 – he clarified.

Three years ago, at the plea of the Government of Serbia, VTB decided not to sell the Bank of Moscow in Serbia. The media reported at the time that VTB planned to make its Belgrade subsidiary the main bank for servicing economy projects between the two countries.

VTB acquired the Bank of Moscow in 2011.