Since May 2017, the Central Bank has been able to write off the deposits of the management of failed banks. Amendments to the bankruptcy law stipulate that the Banking Sector Consolidation Fund can make a contribution to the authorized capital of a bank only if its capital is reduced to its actual value or to 1 ruble, obligations on subordinated debts are written off, the fund receives at least 75% of the bank's shares, and the bank ceases obligations to top management on loans, deposits and other claims issued before this amendment came into force - i.e. before May 17, 2017.

In September, the regulator was able to test this measure for the first time. At the end of August, a decision was made to rehabilitate the bank " FC Otkritie " - the Central Bank may spend 250-400 billion rubles to recapitalize it. The portal banki.ru reported that money was written off from some top managers of "FC Otkritie" and was confirmed by the bank's representative Alexander Dmitriev. He refused to name the number of managers and the amount written off - he only said that funds from the accounts of employees and controlling persons are written off in favor of the bank.

Prepare to write off

The top management of Binbank, which will also be rehabilitated with the help of the Banking Sector Consolidation Fund, may find itself in a similar situation. The Central Bank is currently determining what its capital problems are. According to Pozdyshev, the preliminary estimate for additional reserve creation (they will need to be subtracted from the capital) is 250–350 billion rubles, which also threatens the bank with a reduction in capital. It was not possible to obtain comments on the write-off of management funds from the Chairman of the Board of Binbank, Yevgeny Davydovich. In an interview with RBC-TV, he assured that Binbank did not make such payments [bonuses], so there is nothing to dispute.

According to the law, those whose funds were written off include shareholders, members of the bank's management board and board of directors, the chief accountant and his deputies, as well as managers and chief accountants of branches (FC Otkritie has 22 branches in total, according to the Central Bank). A person close to the management of FC Otkritie Bank reported that this circle includes several dozen employees. According to Vedomosti's calculations, about 60 people.

Judging by the Central Bank's determination, this may not be the last money that FC Otkritie employees will have to part with. The regulator plans to challenge in court the managers' payment of bonuses to themselves for the first half of 2017, Central Bank Chairwoman Elvira Nabiullina said in mid-September. The decision to pay increased bonuses and dividends a month or a month and a half before the license is revoked or the bank is reorganized may also be interpreted as asset stripping, Nabiullina emphasized. The story with the bonuses is longer, since the Central Bank will have to challenge them in court, a person close to the regulator said.

The board of FC Otkritie received salaries of 52.8 million rubles and bonuses of 207.7 million rubles in the first three months of 2017, according to the bank's financial statements. Bonuses were paid during the month preceding the introduction of the temporary administration, when the bank's owners were negotiating with the regulator to resolve the current liquidity situation, said Vasily Pozdyshev, deputy chairman of the Central Bank. "There were amounts of 50 million and 100 million rubles. In the situation in which the credit institution found itself, we recognized this as incorrect, announced our attitude to this situation to the management and called on employees to return the bonuses," Pozdyshev warned.

Managers paid for Otkritie