Bank Severnaya Kazna BOD Chairman Vladimir Frolov admits that a portion of the bank’s shares might be sold to a new large investor. He reports that it is quite possible and that the management has already considered this as an option.

‘We don’t insist on keeping the controlling shareholdings to ourselves any longer. This wouldn’t be a right thing to do. We’ve overcome our own unwillingness and have spoken about the problem with many financial organizations,’ Vladimir Frolov announced in the course of a press confrerence in Yekaterinburg on October 22, 2008.

Frolov did admit he had already discussed the region’s financial market’s troubles and the possibility of M&A with some other Sverdlovsk Region-based banks and banks located in other parts of Russia.

‘We’ve received several proposals, and we’ve been considering them. Even though we held talks with many banks on what structure is going to work best, no option has been deemed acceptable so far,’ he said.

‘We are willing to look into any offers as long as they are more efficient for our customers,’ the bank’s Chairman noted.