have so far weathered the storm up next spotlight looks into that in more detail. oh yes welcome to the spotlight. today my guest on the show is. the european. banks. and. it's doing all right but economists say they will have to. moody's is downgrading the russian banking sector and the ruble is losing its value all this trouble russia's biggest bank there's a very bad celebrates its anniversary saying it's going to become a transnational company. how is

the u.s. . are struggling to survive. banks. russia's banking burbank turns a hundred and seventy this month through the years it has become the largest bank used in europe about half of all russian citizens retailed represents burbank's brand is worth nearly twelve billion dollars which makes it one of the strongest banking brands in the world instead of a birthday party the company has arranged a conference to figure out its future he's aiming to become a transnational financial institution in the next ten years but it's. the ongoing economic turmoil and financial system. thanks for having us thank you very much for being with us so first of all

congratulations it's the one hundred. burbank is the only bank that survived the socialist revolution of nine hundred seventeen then another revolution that no idea going to work so so so so it's been there forever yeah it was created by the. addict of eight hundred forty one so it's an institution and it sounds. great listen burbank is celebrating the anniversary and the news of the continuing eurozone crisis well is this crisis are these news that we're getting for in europe are they creating any problems any any risks for the russian banking system. directly no. any possible impact for very negative scenarios outside russia. would filter through to the russian banking system only through the russian real sector it is largely through the

overall economic activity of the corporate sector and for the consumer. which may experience some slowdown that would in fact both volumes of the banking business and. the appetite to the credit risk from the banking sector however it is important to differentiate that russian banking sector has a very specific structure and. its bank which is anywhere between three to twenty times bigger than the nearest competitor is the next back about ten twenty banks which are feeling pretty strong and then there is a one hundred institutions which would probably suffer i am like you seeing three to twenty times bigger than the computer so you don't know the figures no i don't have the figures or your competitor to place that would you want to say no no no it depends upon upon what you look at if it's by assets then it's three times bigger if it's by branch network we've got eighteen thousand branches this is too

complicated for me so. let me get is leave it here three times bigger than h.s.b.c. globally in terms of number of branches but it's the global you make is important you have plans becoming global. international i would say international monetary global for a little bit let's get back to the problems that we may be facing as you came into the office today we talked about about the crisis of two thousand and eight which was enormous do you expect that something similar may happen to the russian making seat i don't think to the russian banking sector no. movie has downgraded russian banking sector recently so what does it mean do you mean that you will rise the cost of borrowing inside the country. when you say you referred to the bank you said about banking sector the cost of borrowing is driven mostly by by the level of risk again we sense that any possible slowdown to the russian market economy would

not be over shocking value but rather something that is gradual and not as dramatic and therefore maybe some gradual adjustment to the cost of credit for different type of borrowers maybe. in your view but i don't think it is going to be universal shock for everyone with a big increase in the cost of credit well there are signs that these days rush the banking system is going through sort of a liquidity squeeze does it mean that the central bank will be tightening its monthly policy in the near future well. central with respect to the monetary policy and liquidity in the banking sector not necessarily tightening what systemic duty central bank is to perform is to make sure that the. system is

coherent and operates. stable e in any conditions that the market may weather. whilst dighton ing would rather apply to much closer attention to the quality and stability of particular institutions that are members of the system i don't think. the situation is of is very similar to two thousand and eight this time the regulator has a very. diverse set of instruments to support systemically quiddity that have been used and tested in two thousand and eight and nine quite successfully and the regulator in russia central bank is now very vigilant and he's capable of fine tuning the situation very precisely well you sir not to mistake you should sound have to mistake but as burbank your bank has has raised its deposit rates isn't it a sign of the problem is however quickly that i mean. not necessarily. the

. to understand the sugar actually one has to remember that in the overall context russia and russian savers have been living in an environment of negative real savings rate and the adjustments that we do now our bureau lead to. keep them keep the rates in line with what's going in the overall interest rate environment in the country yes the rates have gone up somewhat but i don't think that the changes that we're doing at that dramatic on the backdrop of the cuts in the rates that the banking sector have done in the preceding two years we read in the press that the central bank has boosted measures to counter the funding squeeze providing three knowing servan billion rubles which is thirteen billion us two lenders in overnight repurchase options i look to which works well i don't really

know what that mean means but. this means support to the backs so do you think that this support will continue. well this means us being an active market maker in a report market which is from the standpoint of our risk appetite fits burbank's perception very well because it actually is the least risky way for us making sure that the excessively quiddity that we have got works well and earns us money well the second and this is the primary reason for that the second reason for that it also indirectly you greece is liquidity in the banking sector and this is where our commercial interest coincides with the benefit of the overall market which is very often the true because simply in terms of all relative size to single economy in a single banking sector we're probably the biggest bank in the world well the russian bankers have been learning from the west because the system is pretty.

pretty young lean left and early twenty years until it has been started to meld we've been seeing what's going on in the west how the banks there are the governments car prated to overcome problems so looking at the example of the united states and other countries as a worst case scenario could russian banks be seeking bailouts from the states will the russian banks be doing that what do you think well some of them may have and we've seen that back in two thousand and eight and hundred thousand nine i think the russian banking sector went off not as heavily damaged by the crisis as it could have. and as compared to the banking sectors in the west and definitely as compared to what is going now in europe so but you one can never rule this out this will extremely unlikely to happen because our

operation is actually in reverse the worse the environment. the more excessive liquidity we get because we would become the safety haven't and the more margins were able to the sweeter margins were able to command because we've become the lender of last resort and we can choose moody or us again moody's rates dept of the burbank eighty three which is the fourth lowest investment grade and one level above the government does that mean that burbank will be renewing and reviewing its business policy. for what purpose for the purpose of technically following in the ratings i don't think so we well you know i don't know but you all say we don't care about ratings i think even the prime minister said we don't care what norwegians would you do i know you do we do care about the right mix but i think. going as far as saying oh you change your strategy for the sake of improving your rating would be

a bit and over like like like me like. a better know it was true volatile the fundamental can competitive advantages of spare bank transcending not only ratings but generations and it is our strategy is to make the most of them commercially on one side but on the other side not to forget that it is satisfying the needs of the clients the briggs's the profits and you know working exclusively for profits ratings or any of our financial parameter alone disregarding your client is done you should go there will always well the client is profits yes so disregarding the client also means this regarding profit sector i mean you know doctors the banker. says on top of the cut i was in deputy c.e.o. of the very back spotlight who would be back shortly right out to a break so stay where you are and we'll get back in the.

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with mike's cancer the no holds barred look at the global financial headlines tune in to kaiser report on r g. twenty years ago largest country. to look. what. you can. teach began a journey. where did it take the. welcome back to spotlight i'm all grown up and just a reminder that my guest today in the studio is. deputy c.e.o. of the burbank the largest bank in russia which is celebrating its one hundred seventy birthday on the twelfth of november. we talked about a bit about problems that the russian banking system may be facing well banks all

over the world may be facing probably these days let's talk about different things let's talk about about the perspectives. you are i know reportedly looking at these bank of the turkish arm of dexia it's a pretty large bank in turkey and you want to see it as a potential acquisition target so what are the conditions for you to start buying like an asset like this which is pretty big. again the size is all in relative terms and if you measure it against our own business it is not that significant. specifically is an interesting market for us we don't think we have. particular. focus on a specific target be that denise or anything at this moment. we.

overall broader part of your question will rule think about our international expansion in the context that. it is something that will be fundamentally fundamental to our future in seven ten fifteen years rather than something that is that is very urgent today because strategically for us our top ten priorities are domestic and within c.i.s. within c.s. well represented already. so it is rather thinking about the future growth prospects of burbank that we are looking at markets like china india eastern europe and that region barton bottle including turkey i don't think there's any immediate deal that is right on the table with concrete negotiations at the moment. but the also means that we will continue to look at those markets carefully well

you mentioned the c.i.s. or the former soviet countries i've recently been to kiev and talking to all toward unary people i've heard the interesting thing they said that when ukraine has. separated society after the session from the u.s.s.r. when people went to this better class sat which was what was better bank called and also you are sorry a. after or after they became independent there will be no no more money no more savings everything was taken by russia so your money are in russia and they were pocketed actually backed by moscow and that was that was reportedly seventy billion u.s. dollars well this was every good propaganda thing of course but what of what wasn't true i don't think so well legally the big bank of big savings bank of the soviet union was split into parts in accordance with the new jurisdictions the russian part went to russia the ukrainian largely stayed in. in ukraine belarus

like other stand everywhere and while the bank back than. wasn't particularly well capitalized and liquid and there were some savings lost back in the big depreciation of the of the of the currency in the early ninety's so everyone lost russian government still plays the composition of the last savings in back in ninety one through the russian citizen knew what was about my last two i think your family lost too but the difference is that we lost to our own government and the ukrainians feel that what they lost were pocketed by a huge and lives very very so this is not to know that there wasn't much to pocket in the first one hundred billion us well yes you pocket something that extends of all but the money was pretty much lost by the bank of the soviet union. universally. so you know but i think there's there's

a bit of an actor to equitable loss while parts of the soviet society and it going sided with the fact that the joined out into service to separate governments so this is burbank's head get real good if your boss said that the condition for a for a for this privatization is the price of one hundred roubles for a share for a single shares burbank's so the question is can this burbank start rip out of its own share in order to reach this goal i don't think it will change investment if anything from what we hear from the international investors community this privatization is perceived as a very positive signal. that can only be perceived as opposed to a signal from the standpoint that investors now trust this burbank is competitive and flexible enough to not be dependent on any state help or any state support or an economic stake in the capital of this bear bank overall now this proposition is

obviously just a part of it's bringing this dig down from fifty seven point six percent to fifty percent plus one share. which is. large ish in absolute size but in relative terms of the market represents just a few trading days while you inspire bank stock so the timing. as to when it will happen the answer is very simple when the pricing gets back to the sensible level because clearly currently very bank is undervalued. whichever way you look at it compared to fundamentals compared to competitive position to anything because of the right time now to do it i don't think immediately now it's the right day and also the selling shareholder and i'm a shareholder as well would obviously find it irrational to sell now at a price that is you know about eighty rubles today as we speak when just two three months ago it was above one hundred roubles purcel so the market dislocation will

need to correct itself a little bit first before that happens your boss a bit of banks have given graph has said that the condition for the privatization is the price of one hundred roubles for one share so the question here is that you said that you're not ready it's but kills brubeck's star it represents a sing it so shares in order to to reach this goal said by growth. well repurchase of our shares buybacks of our shares we have. been considering as one of the two to manage our own capital we are somewhat excessively capitalized at the moment but we haven't considered this for the purpose of influencing the stock price. in preparation for. the privatisation because that would have been called manipulation and we're not wanting to be seen to do that so.

if you do that nobody will there that no one will know anything anytime this prevent my want to consider this it will do it in the most transparent and appropriate manner as required by all the exchanges the listed in and all the regulations in all jurisdictions that were trading. earlier this year you yourself were quoted as saying that you were planning to to to to to start listing burbank on the london sky stock exchange are you still planning that and then how is it going well for all intents and purposes since first of july this year will really our stock already has food access to trading on london stock exchange and our daily training volumes in london are now. you know hundred or sometimes more million dollars a day our total jerry daily trading volumes are around five six hundred million

dollars of which a big part is in london big parties and frack for frankfurt big parties in over the counter u.s. a.d.r. level ones big part in the trial the international trading platform and of course the big board in local domestic markets so. admission to trade in all those exchanges and marketplaces requires the company to be pretty much as transparent as well governed as compliant with older elations as if it was foolish to so for that matter we were sort of already there the technicalities as to which least you're wrong we may consider a bit later on within the next few months but from the standpoint of an investor who fully tradeable anywhere. well you mentioned early in this interview mention going global they don't realize suddenly that this anniversary that you're celebrating these days the hundred seventy birthday you're holding a conference which is an international conference

a global conference where you setting goals and so the two thousand and twenty one isn't the ten years ten years ahead are these plans that you're discussing and these are the really globalizing a bank of really becoming becoming the world bank well our key driver is the success for both our clients and our investors it definitely means us becoming international globality is a much bigger term and it would be unwise for us to remove it to come immediately. we will possibly come to that later on but the topic of the. conference is not necessarily about telling the whole of the world housebreak is going to become global now we are embracing the new concept of crowdsourcing and we want to run a number of projects to use crowdsourcing to the postmarked impossible effect and to show the results of this project of what the crowdsourcing can produce as

possible solutions and directions for russia as the market place for bank as. a bank it is striving to become one of the best in the world doesn't equal global but one of the best in the world. includes international and how to make russian market a very attractive place so the results of that crowdsourcing exorcised try to find those directions and solutions are going to be presented to the global economic community on our conference and i think this this is something new that no one has done at this scale before and that could be very interesting. last question. when people from gazprom come here they say we're shareholders of gaspar you say i'm a shareholder of spirit bank and so and so forth does that mean that being in the finance business. putting your money into somewhere it isn't i mean it's it's not

a matter of business matter of of trust. of course it's like it's like a religion of religion. it is it is rather trust into something that you also know very much both scientifically. for me so thank you thank you very much for being with us today and just to remind us that my guest on the show was i'm calling comes in the deputy c.e.o. this is very very sad that since but all of the spotlight will be back with more on carbon fiber what's going on in and. until then stay on r.t. and take as.

in canada and the us today it is legal for you to use a bubble bath on your baby that contains a known carcinogen something that causes cancer most of the most independent they

are sponsored by the industry and most of the time they don't that clearly is a conflict of interest today an average cancer drug prescription costs nearly one thousand six hundred dollars a month. and nobody with cancer in my five therefore i predict. because navy to ninety five percent of cancers occur among people with a family history of cancer the pharmaceutical industry spends about fourteen percent of their budget on research and development and about thirty one percent for marketing and ministration. in fact there are more pharmaceutical industry lobbyists in washington d.c. than members of congress. it's really prepares for the fall of the post. as its parliament sits down to vote on your sturdy package intended as a last line of defense against

a collapsing confidence in its economy. the arab league decides to suspend syria while member states are urged to sanction damascus and withdraw their ambassadors to president assad stops the bloodshed in the country. i want to learn for travellers turns into a hub for high profile discussions as the heads of the asia pacific nations gather in hawaii hoping to isolate themselves from the spreading eurozone crisis. but also this hour to chart is booming economy isn't always met with open arms that the united states sometimes prating the emerging superpower as a dangerous prospect. substories. international news in comment live from moscow this is r t with you twenty four

hours a day.