The new owner of Uralsib spoke about cutting costs at the bank. According to him, the peak of the crisis in the banking industry has passed, but it “will be shaken more than once or twice.”

Businessman Vladimir Kogan (Photo: Alexey Nikolsky/TASS)

Businessman Vladimir Kogan, who became a sanator at Uralsib in the fall of 2015, in an interview with the Kommersant newspaper, told how he was cutting costs at the bank. According to him, he reduced the staff by 90%, which “worked personally for the shareholder.” These are “really huge costs,” Kogan noted.

“I believe that excesses are not necessary, and I can do just fine without unnecessary luxury. For example, until 2005, our entire vacation budget was $1 thousand. We once went around the entire Soviet Union with tents,” said the banker.

To reduce costs, Uralsib also plans to close about 50 sales points, Kogan said. “They are unprofitable, and in their case this is “not curable,” he explained.

The new owner of Uralsib noted that he has no plan to cut three-quarters of the staff. “Oddly enough, when you reduce staff, then within a year its quantitative composition is restored again. One of the American billionaires tried to reduce the number of employees, but he was never able to radically resolve the issue. Then he simply demolished two wings of the building,” Kogan said.

According to him, the financial recovery plan for Uralsib will be ready by early April and then submitted to the Central Bank for approval. The owner of the bank noted that he set the team the task of finally agreeing on ’s development plan Uralsib with the regulator by the summer of 2016. After this, the bank plans to participate in new rehabilitation projects, Kogan said. He also added that he continues to negotiate with Rostec regarding servicing their companies. “Perhaps I would participate together with Rostec in the capitalization of Novikombank if they offered,” he said. in January that Rostec is negotiating with Vladimir Kogan about the latter’s entry into the capital of Novikombank RBC sources said .

According to Kogan’s forecast, 8–10% of banks may leave the market in 2016. “In my opinion, the peak [of the crisis] has passed and the banking industry will be one of the first to begin recovery. But it will shake more than once or twice; this time the way out of the crisis will not be easy,” he said.

In the fall of 2015, Vladimir Kogan was chosen as a sanator of Uralsib Bank. The businessman received 82% of the bank’s shares and loans worth 81 billion rubles. for refurbishment. Nikolai Tsvetkov, who owned a controlling stake in Uralsib, became a minority shareholder.

Kogan spoke about reducing “huge costs” at Uralsib