BNP Paribas Vostok, the daughter enterprise of one of Europe’s largest banks BNP Paribas, is about to strike a deal with Sberbank and so is closing all the business directions except for express loans, Banki.ru reports.

It has been reported to Marker that the bank suggests its customers withdraw their deposits before the end of their term, by October 1, 2011. What is more, BNP Paribas is rumored to be planning to close down most of its outlets before the end of the year.

Since last week, it has become impossible to open or to top up an existing deposit at the bank. Other services like opening an account or a money order have also become unavailable, the agency reports.

Marker’s source at the bank explained that BNP Paribas Vostok’s future owner Sberbank is not interested in the expansion of customer base in anything not concerned with tied credits. Once the restructuring of the bank’s range products has been completed, the only product on offer will be POS lending, that is, offering loans at the points of sale.

The banking network is shrinking. By New Year, the offices in Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Nizhniy Novgorod, Rostov-on-Don, and Yekaterinburg will be closed,’ the agency was told by the bank.

The bank’s Yekaterinburg outlet started operating two years ago.