"VTB-ARMENIA BANK" STARTED CLOSING THE UNPROFITABLE BRANCHES

Mediamax, Armenia
Jan 11 2007

Yerevan, January 11 /Mediamax/. According to the decision of the
Chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia Tigran Sarkisian, cessation
of activities of the "VTB-Armenia Bank" branch is registered, which
was functioning in Yerevan, located in II Nork, Gai 23/24, Mediamax
was told in the CB press service.

"VTB-Armenia Bank" refused to tell Mediamax’s reporter the reason
for the decision to close the branch.

Mediamax recalls that in November 2006 the Vice President of the
Russian VTB Bank Vasili Titov stated that "the Armenian authorities
strictly oppose" to our striving for closing the unprofitable branches
of the "VTB-Armenia Bank"".

"In Armenia we bought a large bank with a net of 100 branches, some
of them are very unprofitable, and one must just liquidate them.

However, the local authorities very much oppose to that. In many of
Armenian villages out branches are almost the only ones, making the
banking services available for the population. Thus, we cannot push
our way through, we should take into account not only our interests,
but also the opinion of the authorities", the Vice President of VTB
said in an interview to the Ukrainian "Contracts" newspaper.

Mediamax reminds that the President of the "Mika Limited" Company
Mikhail Baghdasarov, who still owns the 30% share of "VTB-Armenia
Bank", stated on November 7 that the reason for his decision to sell
the shares was the discord with the policy of the "VTB-Armenia Bank"
leadership. In particular, Baghdasarov noted then, the leadership
of the bank intends to close 40 branches in the regions of Armenia,
which is unacceptable for him.