Ost-West Handelsbank

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Ost-West Handelsbank AG was a Soviet-controlled bank in Frankfurt established in 1971.[1][2] It was acquired by VTB Bank and changed its name to VTB Bank Deutschland.

History[]

Ost-West Handelsbank AG was founded in 1971 by the Soviet Union's Gosbank, VEB of the USSR and a number of allied trade associations.[2][3]

Ost-West Handelsbank supported trading between Germany and the CIS states.[3]

By 1990, it was the third largest of the daughters of the State Bank of USSR behind the much larger Moscow Narodny Bank in London and Banque Commerciale pour l'Europe du Nord – Eurobank in Paris.[2][4]

At the end of 1991, Ost-West Handelsbank had a DM 65 million paid-in share of capital.[3]

In the early 1990s, Sergei Nikolaevich Dergachev (Russian: Сергей Николаевич Дергачев) formed CJSC Rusimpex (Russian: ЗАО Русьимпекс) through which he obtained large stakes in Ost-West Handelsbank illegally using state money.[5] In April 1994, Dergachev became president of Ost-West Handelsbank after the former president and chairman of the board of Ost-West Handelsbank from 1985 to December 1993 Sergei Mikhailovich Bochkarev (Russian: Сергей Михайлович Бочкарев) left for work with the German branch of Inkombank.[2][6]

On 28 April 1992 using DM 50 million from a "frozen" VEB account, Tokobank gained an 80.6% stake in Ost-West Handelsbank after the shareholders of Ost-West Handelsbank transferred the stake to Tokobank which was the first privatization of a former sovzagranbank (Russian: Совзагранбанк).[3][7] Aviabank (Russian: Авиабанк) and Sergei Rodionov and his Imperial Bank (Russian: банка «Империал») had competing bids for the controlling stake of Ost-West Handelsbank, but did not gain any stake in the German bank.[2] The shares were repurchased with "real" money amounting $84 million using funds with CMEA Moscow Investment Bank (IIB) (Russian: Московский инвестиционный банк СЭВ (МИБ)) located at No. 7 Masha Poryvaeva Ulitsa in Moscow.[2][a] In May 1998, members of the St. Petersburg "Northern Alliance" (Russian: «Северный Альянс») including Vladimir Stolyarenko, the "Kinex" founders Evgeny Malov (Russian: Евгений Малов) and Andrey Katkov (Russian: Андрей Катков) and their then business partner Gennady Timchenko, held temporary directorships of Tokobank (Russian: Токобанк).[8][9] In 1998, Tokobank owned a 28% stake in the German bank Ost-West Handelsbank.[8][9]

Controversy[]

In 1998, $4.8 billion of IMF funds allegedly were stolen through accounts with Runicom SA in Switzerland. Allegedly, some of the stolen money went to Roman Abramovich. Abramovich is the beneficial owner of Runicom SA which is a company that controls secret reserve funds and was created by Russian authorities in 1995. According to Swiss authorities, Runicom is a shareholder of the Swiss branch of Ost-West Handelsbank. Additionally, Obyedinenny bank (Russian: Объединение банка), which is owned by Runicom, has correspondence accounts that received stolen IMF money.[10]

See also[]

Notes[]

  1. ^ From 1989 to 1995, the president and chairman of the board of Tokobank was Viktor Konstantinovich Yakunin (Russian: Виктор Константинович Якунин) who created Tokobank.[2] In Ukraine, Yakunin established Tokobank branches at Dnipro, Odessa, Kherson, and Donetsk.[2] The industrial giant Yuzhmash, which Leonid Kuchma headed and at which Leonid Derkach worked, had its accounts with the Tokobank branch at Dnipr which became the main branch in Ukraine and was named YugTokobank (Russian: ЮгТокобанк) which became a subsidiary of Tokobank in 1992 with Tokobank holding an 85% stake in YugTokobank.[2] Armenia had a branch of Tokobank which became a subsidiary of Tokobank with a former head of KGB in Armenian SSR as the chairman of board of the Armenian subsidiary of Tokobank.[2] There were no branches of Tokobank in the Baltics.[2] Yakunin and his deputy Vyacheslav Aleksandrovich Khokhlov (Russian: Вячеславом Александровичем Хохловым) began many international relationships. Established in 1990, «TOKO-bank International» was supported by Canadians from the Reichmann family who are associated with Olympia and York.[2] Tokobank, a commercial bank, established the first banking contacts with Israel through Moshe Sanbar who was a president of Bank Leumi.[2] For TOKObank-International, Yakunin and Khokhlov established contacts with both Rabobank and AMRO Bank in the Netherlands; Deutschebank, Berliner Bank, Dresdner Bank and Ost-West Handelsbank in Germany; Eurobank, Paribas, and Credit Lyonnais in France; and Bank of New York for Tokobank's settlements through Natasha Gurfinkel and Vice President Volodya Golitsyn, Edmond Safra's Republic New York in the United States; 3 or 4 banks including Bank of Tokyo in Japan; in 1993, banks at London in the United Kingdom; and Bank of China in China.[2] On 27 February 1992, Tokobank became АО Tokobank (Russian: АО Токобанк) which is an open joint stock company, and was one of the first Russian commercial banks to conduct operations with gold.[2]

References[]

  1. ^ The piratization of Russia: Russian reform goes awry. Marshall I. Goldman.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o "Виктор Константинович Якунин: Нашим возможностям соответствовал, Ost-West Handelsbank" [Victor Konstantinovich Yakunin: Our capabilities matched, Ost-West Handelsbank] (PDF). letopis.ru (in Russian). Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 August 2021. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  3. ^ a b c d Симонов, Дмитрий (4 May 1992). "Выкуплен первый совзагранбанк: Чьи деньги, Зин?" [The first sovzagranbank was redeemed: Whose money, Zin?]. Коммерсантъ (in Russian). Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  4. ^ Сухотина, Инна (Sukhotina, Inna) (10 November 2003). "Сколько стоит приданое "дочек" Банка России?" [How much is the dowry of the "daughters" of the Bank of Russia?]. «Российская газета» (Rossiyskaya Gazeta) (in Russian). Archived from the original on 29 November 2003. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  5. ^ Овчинников, О. (Ovchinnikov, O.) (8 November 2000). "ЦБ - центральный Банд ..." [Central Bank - Central Gang ...]. Compromat.ru (in Russian). Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  6. ^ "Сергей Бочкарев: Я объявил коллегам, что лёд тронулся" [Sergey Bochkarev: I announced to my colleagues that the ice was broken]. bankir.ru (in Russian). 13 December 2010. Archived from the original on 1 December 2017. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  7. ^ Буйлов, Максим (Builov, Maxim) (11 December 2001). "Банки-2001: Кому принадлежит Россия" [Banks-2001: Who owns Russia]. Коммерсант (in Russian). Retrieved 12 August 2021. Archived at compromat.ru on 11 December 2001.
  8. ^ a b "«До��ерние» российские зарубежные банки и сеть ВТБ: доли ЦБ, ВТБ и др" [Russian Foreign "Daughter" Banks and the VTB Network: stakes held by Central Bank, VTB, others]. compromat.ru. February 2005. Retrieved 15 July 2021.
  9. ^ a b Бирман, Александр (Birman, Alexander) (21 February 2005). "В советских сетях: Нефтедоллары пойдут по проверенным каналам загранбанков" [In Soviet networks: Oil dollars will go through proven channels of foreign banks]. Компании Деловой Еженедельник. Archived from the original on 13 March 2005. Retrieved 12 August 2021.
  10. ^ Barban, Yefim (25 August 2004). "Where's the Money, Roman? What happened to the IMF loan to Russia? A London Times correspondent believes that he is on the right track". The Moscow News. Retrieved 12 August 2021 – via Johnson's Russia List.
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