Alfa-Bank

Alfa Bank JSC, the corporate treasury of the Alfa Group, is one of the largest private commercial banks in Russia.[5] It was founded by Russian businessman Mikhail Fridman, who is still the controlling owner today. It is headquartered in Moscow. It operates in seven countries, providing financial services to over 381,600 active corporate customers and 14.2 million retail clients.[6] Alfa-Bank is particularly active in Russia and Ukraine, ranking among top 10 largest banks in terms of capital in both countries.[7][8][9] In the 2009 edition of the Top-1000 World Banks, a survey by The Banker magazine, Alfa-Bank was placed 270th.[10]

Not to be confused with Alpha Bank.

Alfa Bank JSC
Joint stock company
IndustryBanking
Financial services
Investment services
Founded1990 (1990)
Headquarters
Moscow
,
Russia
Number of locations
723 offices in 7 countries[1]
ProductsConsumer banking
Corporate banking
Investment banking
US$ 798 million (2017)[2]
Total assets US$ 44.7 billion (2017)[2]
Total equity US$ 6.3 billion (2017)[2]
OwnerMikhail Fridman, Pyotr Aven, German Khan
Number of employees
23,000 (March, 2018)[1]
RatingBa2 (Moody's), BB+(S&P),[3] BB+ (Fitch) (2017)[4]
WebsiteAlfaBank.ru
Alfa-Bank advertising

History

Timeline:[11][12]

1990s

2000s
  • 2000 – Alfa-Bank acquires a 76% stake in Kyivinvestbank (later renamed "Alfa Bank Ukraine"). The Banker and Global Finance magazine name Alfa-Bank "The Best Russian Bank". Alfa Securities, a broker and a subsidiary, opens in London.
  • 2001 – By the end of first quarter, loan portfolio reaches $1 billion; Alfa-Bank opens a subsidiary in New York City, Alfa Capital Markets, a NASD (now Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA)) regulated company set up to provide brokerage and investment services in North and South America. Emerging Markets Investor and Global Finance name it "Best Bank in Russia". Alfa-Bank becomes 100 percent owner of Amsterdam Trade Bank N.V. and thereby acquires a full banking licence in the European Union.
  • 2002 – Gazprom and Alfa-Bank reach an agreement on strategic partnership. Together with Merrill Lynch, Alfa-Bank wins financial consulting contract from Unified Energy System. Fitch and S&P upgrade their credit rating on Alfa-Bank. Once again Global Finance magazine declares Alfa-Bank "The Best Russian Bank".
  • 2003 – Unaudited financial statements reveal record high growth in profits in 2002 (loan portfolio increased 70% to $1.4 billion, assets surged 51%, while net income rose by more than a third). Alfa-Bank, in partnership with the Lauder Institute of the Wharton School of Business, establishes a new award for "Excellence in Foreign Investment", which would be presented to foreign companies operating in Russia for weighty contribution to the corporate governance and successful business operations. Alfa-Bank draws $82 million unsecured syndicated loan, the biggest on record among private banks. S&P, Fitch, and Moody's upgrade Alfa-Bank's rating during the year.
  • 2004 – Alfa-Bank tops the list of financial consultants by deals value, completing $8.9 billion worth of transactions in 2003. Alfa-Bank's loan portfolio grows by 52% year-over-year, reaching $2.8 billion. It wins a $10 million defamation settlement against the Russian newspaper Kommersant, which had published an article on financial difficulties at the bank, which suffered a substantial run on deposits and contributed to a mini banking crisis over the summer.[13]
  • 2005 – Interbrand ranks Alfa-Bank "9th strongest brand" in Russia. Mikhail Fridman becomes the member of the Public Chamber of Russia. Alfa-Bank issues $225 million of subordinated unsecured Eurobonds. S&P, Fitch, and Moody's upgrade Alfa-Bank's rating during the year.
Alfa Bank branch in Odessa, Ukraine (2012)
  • 2006 – Alfa-Bank completes the country's first securitisation of diversified payment rights with a $350 million deal. Unaudited first quarter management International Financial Reporting Standards figures show total assets breaking the $10 billion mark for the first time in company's history.
  • 2007 – In connection with the closure of Sodbiznesbank in 2004, Alfa-Bank is searched by Russian police in September.[14] Fitch upgrades Alfa-Bank's rating.[15]
  • 2008 – Alfa-Bank seeks $400 million government loan in October.[16] It deploys 20,000 Aladdin eToken USB smartcard devices to its online customers.[17] The bank acquires Severnaya Kazna, a major regional bank operating in the Urals region.[18]
  • 2009 – Fitch downgrades Alfa-Bank's rating.[19]

2010s

Bank and Society

Charity

Since 2004, Alfa-Bank has been assisting the "Life Line", a charity program for saving seriously ill children. Alfa-Bank was the first company to organize a collection of private donations to the foundation.[46] Since September 2008, bank customers have the opportunity to transfer cash donations to help children with the help of the Alfa-Click Internet Bank or a conventional bank transfer without a bank commission.[47][48] The bank also cooperates with WWF,[49] supports most of the initiatives, and also invites its clients to provide financial support to the Fund.[50]

The bank operates volunteer organization "Give the good". The bank collects humanitarian aid for orphanages, boarding schools and social shelters, and also attracts employees as volunteers. Every year, the bank organizes charity events called "Children's Day", "Help me get ready for school", "Christmas miracle".[51]

Education

Since 1995, the bank has been implementing the "Alfa-Chance" student scholarship program, giving school graduates from various regions of Russia the opportunity to receive higher education at leading universities in the country. Since 2008, the Bank, in cooperation with HSE, has been implementing a program to provide nominal scholarships to first-year students from Russian regions (except Moscow and St. Petersburg), who won prizes at All-Russian School Olympiads and the HSE Multi-Profile Olympiad.[52] In total, the "Alfa-Chance" program involves about 17 institutions of higher education. The Bank is developing the Alfa Fellowship program, which enables young specialists from the United States, Great Britain and Germany to undergo an internship in Russia.[53]

Culture

Alfa-Bank is actively working in cultural and educational activities primarily aimed at supporting national art. On 7 June 2000, the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and Alfa-Bank signed a cooperation agreement, under which the participants agreed to join efforts aimed at the implementation of joint cultural events and creative projects. Every year, with the support of a bank in Russia, exhibitions and concerts are held. In addition, Alfa-Bank participates in the organization of exhibitions and concerts of Russian cultural figures abroad. For example, on 18 February 2000, a concert of the Moscow Virtuosos Symphony Orchestra under the direction of maestro Vladimir Spivakov took place in London. It was the first performance of the band in London for 10 years. The presentation was sponsored by Alfa-Bank. Alfa-Bank, together with the Moscow Literary Fund, is implementing a scholarship support program for writers aimed at motivating authors to create new works of literature: prose, poetry, drama, translations, books for children.[54]

The bank is also one of the co-founders of the "Big Book" National Literary Award.

Alfa-Bank periodically sponsors or participates in organizing concerts of foreign stars in Russia. Among others, Bono(2010), Elton John (1995, 2001 and 2007), Aerosmith (2007), Sting (1996, 2001 and 2006), Whitney Houston (2004), Paul McCartney (2003 and 2004). However, some of the invited singers perform in Russia for the first time.[55][56][57][58] Alfa-Bank organizes an electronic music and technology festival Alfa Future People. The headliners are the "stars" of the world electronic scene, such as Paul Oakenfold, Avicii, Skrillex, Pompeya, Tesla Boy, Infected Mushroom, and others.[59][60]

In July 2014, Alfa-Bank announced the launch of the social project "City Tours with Alpha". The Bank provides financial and organizational support to the best museums and a tour desks, supporting the development of city tours.[61]

Technology
  • Alfa-Bank, jointly with MasterCard, has launched the production of AlfaPay wristwatches with an integrated debit bank card based on PayPass technology. To pay for purchases do not need to enter a PIN code or sign. The card shows its number and CVC-code to pay for online purchases.[62]
  • Alfa-Bank developed the Alfa-Touch app. It allows you to create a non-personalized card for one year and pay for purchases using the PayPass system.[63]
  • Since December 2015, contactless ATMs have begun work in the bank branches. Installation of such ATMs was aimed primarily at improving security when working with an ATM (the inability to read the magnetic strip data by the fraudsters), and secondly, it is speeding up the process of interaction with the device.[64]
  • Alfa-Bank together with the manufacturer of prostheses "Motorika" developed bioelectric prostheses with a special mount for a card with the function of contactless payment PayPass. This development is aimed at reducing inconveniences for people with disabilities when paying. Prostheses have a special compartment for "minitag". To pay for a product or service, it is sufficient to bring the prosthesis to the terminal and confirm the operation with a PIN code in case the check exceeds 1000 rubles. In addition, this prosthesis works with other devices equipped with contactless card readers.[65]
  • At the end of 2016, Alfa-Bank's A-Club Private Banking topped the "Best Russian Bank for Millionaires" rating, compiled by Forbes, among Russian banks without state participation and was ranked 4th position.[66]

Protection of business reputation

On 21 January 2014, Alfa-Bank and Mikhail Fridman filed a lawsuit for the protection of business reputation against the chairman of the Yabloko party, Sergei Mitrokhin, the editorial staff of the Izvestia newspaper and the correspondent of this newspaper. They considered that the statements made by Mitrokhin and Izvestia newspaper that "Aleksei Navalny fulfills the political order of the Alfa Group" do not correspond to reality and discredit their business reputation.[67] But in the end, the court refused to satisfy the company's claim against Mitrokhin.[68]

gollark: <@!309787486278909952> help
gollark: Interesting
gollark: ++exec -L c-gcc```cint main(int apiohazard, char* *apioform) { char buf[1024]; printf("out: %s", "Hello World"); return 0;}```
gollark: Wait a minute, that's undefined behavior, so is it just using that as an excuse to make my program do literally nothing?
gollark: ++exec -L c-gcc```cint main(int apiohazard, char* *apioform) { char buf[1024]; printf("out: %s", buf); return 0;}```

See also

References
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  2. ABH Financial Limited. "Fact Sheet". alfabank.com. ABH Financial Limited. Archived from the original on 22 March 2018. Retrieved 21 March 2018.
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  6. "Corporate Profile". Alfa-Bank. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
  7. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 20 February 2011. Retrieved 22 March 2011.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  8. "Top 200". Profile.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original on 1 October 2011.
  9. Merge and Acquire, The Ukrainian Week (9 October 2015)
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  64. "Контакт не нужен". Retrieved 29 December 2017.
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  66. "А-Клуб Private Banking". Retrieved 29 December 2017.
  67. Альфа-банк и Михаил Фридман предъявили Митрохину иск о защите деловой репутации Ведомости
  68. Михайлова, Анастасия (26 August 2014). "Альфа-банк проиграл суд Митрохину по делу о финансировании Навального". РБК.
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