Trusting your savings to banks is becoming increasingly difficult. And the point here is not even global financial instability, but the next purges of the Central Bank. In this case, it’s quite difficult to guess when the regulator’s “Damocles Sword” will hang over your credit institution. This time Miraf Bank was hit. The problems faced by this financial institution, feedback from investors and other information about the organization we will discuss in this article.
Brief information about the bank
Miraf Bank is a fairly large lending institution with its main office in Omsk. It was founded in 1997, and since then has never changed its name. Only the legal form of the company was subject to change. She was famous for her impeccable reputation and was never associated with her clients with various financial frauds.
Miraf Bank (its license had not yet been revoked at that time) was slowly developing its retail network, opening up new representative offices in the largest cities and regions of Russia.
He also took an active part in the development of corporate and retail business, and offered a number of standard services for entrepreneurs and individuals. The bank's customers were mainly trading and industrial enterprises, including companies from various service sectors.
A few reviews of Miraf Bank
When the financial institution was still working, its customers often left positive feedback about it. For example, some borrowers liked personal loan conditions. Others were happy with high-interest deposit programs. The third liked the professionalism of the organization’s employees, who gladly answered questions and responded quickly in case of unforeseen situations. As you can see, Miraf Bank (user reviews are an excellent confirmation of this) was a reliable and sought-after financial institution.
In a word, nothing portended trouble. What happened to a bank that everyone trusted? What are the causes of his financial problems? And how did the regulatory commission check end?
Bank financial problems
According to most customers, they could not have imagined that their guarantor was experiencing any financial difficulties. For example, Miraf-Bank (Omsk) paid interest on a regular basis, issued loans and touted with new banking products.
It all started in December 2015, when one of the influential financial portals published on its website a message about the disconnection of Miraf Bank from BESP payments.
At that time, the bank's customers did not yet realize the seriousness of their beloved guarantor. In addition, the press service of the financial organization Miraf Bank (Omsk, the city where the company’s head office is located) continued to insist on full control over the situation.
On the day of publication of the message, the press service of the bank made a statement about some misunderstanding in the program. At the same time, they insisted that all payments will continue to occur as usual. But it turned out to be much more serious.
The first “swallows” of bank instability : problems with the issuance of deposits
A few hours after the statement of the bank representatives, messages began to appear on the forums from outraged deposit owners. In most cases, their text was reduced to the fact that they do not work and do not send payments. Moreover, many customers were simply sure that Miraf Bank itself was to blame for the situation. Deposits, according to user stories, have ceased to be serviced. It was impossible to withdraw interest on them, and it was impossible to close the deposits themselves.
It is noteworthy that the bank employees themselves could not give an adequate explanation regarding the current situation. And this further enraged customers. Panic escalated.
Miraf Bank: problems (termination of payments on deposits)
Since the end of December 2015, Miraf Bank has ceased to issue deposits. According to the new rule of a financial organization, residents of Omsk were allowed to withdraw no more than 10-15,000 rubles per day. Ito by prior request. However, larger amounts on deposits simply froze and refused to issue even parts.
On December 28 of the same year, Miraf Bank (payments here could be made in national and foreign currencies) organized a global meeting. According to preliminary data, it was held at the head office of the joint-stock company (on Frunze St.).
But even then, bank representatives denied solvency problems. They assured everyone that the reason for the delays in payments was a change in the financial policy of the credit institution.
Among the possible reasons, according to eyewitnesses, the bank called illegal panic of customers. It is because of them that Miraf Bank does not make payments. This is due to the incredible number of requests from users who simply did not have time to process the employees of the organization.
Then, the joint-stock company employees strongly recommended to be patient and entrust the matter to professionals. The depositors could only believe and expect a final verdict.
Introduction of interim administration in the bank
The situation finally became clear only after the total checks of the bank began. Then, the regulator introduced an interim administration. It was she who managed to discover the real reasons because of which Miraf-Bank does not make payments. One of them was the financial fraud of the leadership of a credit institution.
According to preliminary information, shortly before the introduction of the interim administration, bank representatives sold assets worth more than 560 million rubles. And they did it in a hurry.
At the same time, Miraf Bank (whose problems were just beginning) paid debts in the amount of about 120 million rubles. Moreover, this money was received from some lenders and given to others.
Inventory and shortfall detection
As a result of the inventory, new facts of bank violation were revealed. As it turned out, representatives of this financial institution tried to hide from the regulator a shortage of property in the amount of 288.53 million rubles. Moreover, a significant part of the amount was associated with the absence of bonds and bills, as well as loan agreements and other documentation.
In addition to securities in the Miraf Bank organization (the company's problems are related to the unlawful management policy), the audit revealed unaccounted furniture, equipment, bills and vehicles. All of them actually "hung in the air" and were not listed anywhere.
During the audit, a huge “hole” in the joint-stock company’s budget was also identified, amounting to 1 billion 512.8 million rubles. It was this amount that determined the difference between the size of the bank’s assets and its liabilities.
Revocation of a license from Miraf Bank
As a result of the work, the commission of inquiry made a lot of conclusions, clearly not in favor of the Miraf-Bank credit institution. The license was revoked as a result of the audit, and the reputation of the joint-stock company was completely damaged.
According to official data, among the reasons that led to the revocation of the license were the following:
- repeated violation of federal laws and regulations;
- the provision of incorrect and inaccurate data on the financial activities of the company;
- mediation in money laundering of wealthy citizens;
- investing in low-quality assets without creating additional reserves;
- default on creditors.
And so he lost the license of Miraf Bank. Its branches, opened in Moscow, Omsk, Togliatti and other cities of the Russian Federation, were closed before further orders of the Central Bank.
Bank Trial and Bankruptcy Declaration
After the license was revoked, the Central Bank filed a lawsuit in which it demanded that the financial institution be declared bankrupt. As a result of the trial, held on January 24, 2016, the court declared Miraf Bank insolvent. After that , the Deposit Insurance Agency announced its verdict . According to this statement, the bankrupt bank depositors had to pay about 2.8 billion rubles of compensation.
Payments for depositors of a bankrupt organization
In order to avoid panic among depositors, the DIA representative office announced the beginning of insurance payments of Miraf Bank on February 4, 2016. At the same time, the amount of this compensation should have amounted to 100% of the sum of all accounts of the depositor previously opened in a bankrupt bank. However, the remuneration received should not have exceeded 1.4 million rubles in total.
Depositors can receive the compensation set by the DIA by February 4, 2017. Payments in this case were taken by Rosselkhozbank. Moreover, each investor has the right to choose the most convenient option for receiving money (in cash or in the form of crediting to the client’s bank account).
In order to find out information regarding the addresses of the operating branches of the agent bank, you need to call the hotline: 8 (800) 200-02-90. The order of payments can be tracked by publications made in the print edition of Komsomolskaya Pravda in Omsk.
At the moment, about 4.8 thousand individuals, as well as 150 medium and large-level entrepreneurs, have applied to Miraf Bank for compensation issues. In the near future, the number of applicants for compensation, according to representatives of the DIA, will increase significantly.