SibAcademBank completed its merger with Uralvneshtorgbank on December 22, 2006 adopting the name of URSA Bank.

‘The new bank aims to be the best in order to stay loved. This is why it’s crucial that its new name arouses warm feelings, and we’ll do our best to make sure these feelings come to stay,’ stressed Chairman Igor Kim.

This merger of the two major players on the market resulted in the arrival of a federally important bank capable of competing with Russia’s leading crediting institutions. Its reliability, openness, and great efficiency have retained their status as the key development factors for the bank and its clients and partners alike. URSA Bank is going to keep its position of the regional Russian bank, with the headquarters based in Novosibirsk, with the region-based decision making and running the business in Siberia and the Urals. The CEOs of SibAcademBank and Uralvneshtorgbank will keep taking care of the new bank which is going to combine the best of its two predecessors: it is to be dynamic and client-friendly, it will offer a wide range of products and strive for innovations.

‘The merger led to the creation of an absolutely new and absolutely different bank represented in virtually all Russian regions from the center to the Far East. This is going to shape the bank’s development in the next few years; this is its growing point,’ said General Director of URSA Bank.

All the clients of SibAcademBank and Uralvneshtorgbank have now automatically become the clients of URSA Bank. Nothing has changed in terms of deposit or loan schemes, the numbers of the accounts have remained the same, reports the spokesperson for URSA Bank.