Leto-Bank, which issued up to 100 billion rubles in loans to the population, is not experiencing financial problems, since it was transformed into Pochta Bank and continues to be part of the state VTB group.

Pochta Bank was formed on the basis of Leto Bank and will retain banking license No. 650. The bank not only changed its name, but also significantly expanded its branch network and updated its product range. In 2016, Pochta Bank will appear in Russian Post branches, as well as in all customer centers, sales counters and POS points of Leto Bank.

Your deposit or loan will not be affected by the changes that occur. Pochta Bank will service Leto Bank loans on the same terms. Expanding the bank's network will make loan repayments more convenient. The Bank will also maintain its participation in the deposit insurance system.

The Leto Bank network (338 customer centers, 283 counters and more than 40 thousand POS points) will be rebranded and will continue to operate.

The first offices of Pochta Bank appeared in the 1st quarter of 2016 in different regions of the country. In total, in 2016, about 6,000 service points will be opened in 3,500 Russian Post branches.

The bank will be presented in three formats at Post offices:

1. banking corner with ATM inside a large branch
2. banking window and POS terminal in a small branch with high population coverage
   in branches with low traffic, banking products will be offered by a postal employee who has undergone additional training
3. Visitors to post offices without Pochta Bank service points will be able to fill out an application to open an account, receive a loan or credit card and send it to the bank, which will contact the client and provide the address of the nearest post office where he can receive the necessary product.

The bank was organized through the entry of a subsidiary of Russian Post into the capital of Leto Bank. A subsidiary of Russian Post owns 50% - 1 share, and VTB Group owns 50% + 1 share.

“Post Bank”, created on the basis of “Leto Bank”, will be headed by Dmitry Rudenko, a native of the “MENATEP” group. Previously, he was exposed in a number of scandals related to “credit fraud.”

“Post Bank”, created on the basis of “Leto Bank”, will be headed by Dmitry Rudenko, a native of the “MENATEP” group. Previously, he was exposed in a number of scandals related to “credit fraud.”

How the capital’s bank took over the provincial “Bezhitsa”

In 2010, an event occurred that did not seem to be particularly significant for the banking market: the Bank of Moscow, which at that time was one of the top five Russian credit institutions in terms of assets, became the sole shareholder of the Bryansk Bezhitsa Bank. The procedure for purchasing a small regional bank from the eighth hundred (at the time of completion of the transaction there were slightly more than 1 thousand credit institutions in the country) lasted about five years: the Bank of Moscow consistently bought out stakes from both large shareholders and minority shareholders. The management of the Bank of Moscow then explained the purchase as a new regional strategy of the credit institution.

Bezhitsa Bank was the oldest of the Bryansk commercial banks. It was created back in Soviet times, in 1990, on the basis of the Bryansk department of the USSR Promstroibank. Despite the renaming and transition to a commercial basis, the bank managed to retain the entire clientele of Promstroybank - these were enterprises in the manufacturing sector, industrial companies, construction organizations, trade and transport enterprises. He also worked with individuals. And when necessary, I became a participant in the deposit insurance system.

“Bezhitsa” did not remain in the ownership of the Bank of Moscow for long

However, “Bezhitsa” did not remain in the ownership of the Bank of Moscow for long. Literally a year later, the Bank of Moscow began to come under the control of VTB. How and why this happened is an exciting, dramatic and definitely a separate story. But, one way or another, both the Bank of Moscow itself and its Bryansk “daughter” had to join the VTB group. Nobody had any idea what a small regional bank that came under the control of a financial group with state participation could turn into.

Give a bank for the people!

In the VTB Group, business division has existed for a long time. VTB Bank itself was engaged in servicing corporations, and its subsidiary bank VTB 24, which appeared in 2005 on the basis of Guta Bank, worked with individuals.

The VTB24 brand has literally three months left to live - in January it will disappear, becoming part of VTB. The story of the appearance of the future retail giant and its brand on the market is undoubtedly a unique and indicative part of the history of the entire Russian banking system. the site remembered how a bank appeared and developed, whose name will soon go down in history.

But VTB 24 has always emphasized that their target client segment is the wealthier upper mass segment, which can already be classified as the middle class. Of course, people from the lower and middle mass segments were not denied service. But there was a desire to serve them separately. How to offer them appropriate loan products.

As a result, in 2012, the VTB Group decided to create a bank for the mass segment, which would issue affordable high-margin consumer loans in cash and POS loans (VTB 24 did not engage in POS lending), credit cards. No sooner said than done. Already in May, VTB 24 bought 100% of Bezhitsa from the parent bank, on the basis of which it was decided to create this very “light bank” for the masses.

According to "Russian Standards"

Dmitry Rudenko, a very well-known banker in the retail market, became the president and chairman of the board of the bank. He worked for eight years at Russian Standard Bank, where he started as an employee of the working group and rose to first deputy chairman of the board. In October 2007, he moved to VTB 24, where he received the same status. Rudenko oversaw the work of the network department, customer service for small businesses, mortgages, retail business, customer service center and work with VIP clients.

In June 2012, Dmitry Rudenko became the first official employee of the new bank as Chairman of the Board

In June 2012, Dmitry Rudenko became the first official employee of the new bank as Chairman of the Board.

Georgy Gorshkov became Rudenko's first deputy and right-hand man. They once worked together at Russian Standard, then almost together they moved to work at VTB 24. At Russian Standard, Gorshkov was involved in marketing and cards, at VTB 24 he headed the bank’s retail business department and was a member of the board.

The business was launched quickly. Already in August, the “light bank” issued the first POS loan. And the first client center in Moscow was opened on November 15, 2012.

Doors in "Summer»

The fact that the new “light bank” would be called Leto Bank became known almost immediately. However, Bezhitsa Bank officially renamed itself only in October 2012. Both the name itself and the brand design, which was atypical for a bank, were a novelty at that time. The developers of the corporate identity were tasked with making it as positive as possible. And since Russia is a country with not the warmest climate, it was decided that the word “summer” in the name would evoke extremely positive emotions among customers. They say that this word was suggested by Dmitry Rudenko himself.

The interior of Leto Bank client centers was also atypical for a credit institution: bright design solutions, lack of partitions, soft sofas... “Of course, at first there were fears that people wouldn’t come,” said Dmitry Rudenko. “But they believed us.” Moreover, people of all ages and professions believed... Among our clients are managers, housewives, and pensioners.”

Actually, Leto Bank was originally conceived as a not entirely traditional credit organization. It was decided to abandon speculative pricing and rely on long-term partnerships with clients. Banking products were supposed to be made simple and understandable, just like in a store. In addition, Leto Bank was supposed to become an innovation laboratory in which new approaches to the banking business would be tested.

The volume of investments in the new bank by the shareholder - VTB 24 - during the first three years amounted to 25 billion rubles.

Records of "Summer"

In the next three years of his life, Leto Bank set record after record. Already in 2013, it was recognized as the best banking project, according to Banki.ru, opened more than 200 client centers and 1 thousand POS points, hired more than 4.5 thousand employees, issued more than 520 thousand loans worth over 34 billion rubles

In 2014, Forbes included Leto Bank in the top ten best brands

In 2014, Forbes included Leto Bank in the top ten best brands. The bank entered the top twenty in the consumer lending market, the top ten in POS lending and the top 50 largest Russian banks in terms of the volume of consumer loans issued, according to Kommersant. In October, the bank was included in the ranking of the best employers in the country, according to HeadHunter.

In 2015, the bank introduced biometric facial recognition in customer centers, points of sale and partner stores, launched educational loans and began accepting deposits from individuals. In August, the bank was the first in Russia to complete equipping its network with ATMs with the Cash Recycling function - closed cash circulation. Over three years, Leto Bank brand awareness has reached 60%. In 2015, the bank issued more than 1 million loans worth over 47 billion rubles.

How the “bank for the poor” distributed money

One of the most famous product projects of Leto Bank, remembered in the market, was “Superbet”. For conscientious borrowers who carefully made payments on the loan received and repaid it, the bank recalculated interest for the entire period at a rate reduced by 10% and returned the difference to the client’s account. So, in three and a half years, the bank returned more than 500 million rubles to clients, and the action itself caused a lot of noise. Clients were happy, bankers were jealous, pointing out that with a shareholder with state participation, it was not a sin to give money to clients.

Landings. In a good way

And here is another, perhaps the most striking, social project launched by Leto Bank. In 2013, a crowdfunding web service Maraquia.com for planting forests via the Internet appeared in Russia. Users of the platform were divided into two groups – foresters and ordinary citizens. Foresters recorded on the platform areas around the world where forests were dying. And people could choose a forester and the number of trees and place an order to plant a forest. At first, the resource worked in a limited mode, but in 2014 Leto Bank saw the platform.

This is how the “Give a Forest to a Friend” service appeared on device screens.

They say that the idea to integrate the Maraquia.com service into ATMs was proposed by Dmitry Rudenko. This is how the “Give a Forest to a Friend” service appeared on device screens. Following this project, the “Green World” card appeared, with the help of which people began to give each other trees for the holidays. The festive event turned into an environmental project, which was presented by Dmitry Rudenko and the Minister of Natural Resources and Ecology of the Russian Federation Sergei Donskoy.

Thanks to the project, about 300 thousand trees were planted, and Leto managed to combine the seemingly incompatible - banking business and environmental initiative. By the way, this project is now being successfully continued by Post Bank.

“Summer” went to “Pochta”...

The idea of ​​creating a low-cost bank based on post offices has been discussed in Russia for 15 years. Ironically, it turned out that during the years of the emergence and development of Leto Bank they returned to it again. Already in January 2016, it was officially announced that Post Bank would be created. And they decided to create it on the basis of the branches of the Russian Post and the “light subsidiary” of VTB 24.

“The idea of ​​the bank is low-cost. In general, we believe that the time has come for low-cost in the banking sector. The new postal bank, its main function is a bank for current accounts,” said Dmitry Rudenko, who headed the new bank, back in September 2015. It was assumed that 16–20 billion rubles would be invested in the newly created Post Bank.

...and got into trouble

The management of the former Leto Bank believes that the project was successful. “VTB 24 has made several attempts to create a bank for the mass segment,” noted Dmitry Rudenko. – In 2010 and 2011, it was planned to create a joint venture with one of the market participants, but then we started thinking about buying a small bank. Of course, Leto Bank could have appeared a year or two earlier. Is it good or bad that we entered the market just before the crisis, when the credit “bubble” was already clearly inflating? Hard to tell. We managed to get through this crisis and came out of it with a profit. This means everything happened on time. Moreover, the bank, unlike many competitors, by the beginning of the crisis did not have a portfolio of non-performing loans that we could issue in 2010 and 2011.”

Georgy Gorshkov admitted at the presentation that it was he who started writing this book, and then other bank employees joined the process

...In the spring of 2017, at the Moscow House of Books on Arbat, the “Summer Book” was presented, which is a case study on how to create a successful new type of bank in three years. Deputy Chairman of the Board of Post Bank Georgy Gorshkov admitted at the presentation that it was he who began writing this book, and then other bank employees joined the process. Quotations in this publication are from this book.

Officially, Leto Bank changed its name to Pochta Bank in March 2016 - a year before the presentation of the book. Now Leto Bank's successor, Post Bank, is setting records for speed of development. But that's a completely different story.

OJSC Leto Bank is a subsidiary of VTB 24, operating in the segment of mass consumer lending. The bank sets minimum requirements for borrowers and offers a wide range of products and services.

Story

In 1990, the credit institution Bezhitsa-Bank appeared in Bryansk. The largest enterprises in the city used its services, and gradually it began to develop the mortgage and consumer loans market. In 2005, the Federal Property Management Agency joined the ownership of the organization’s capital, and in 2006, the Bank of Moscow, which within three years increased its share to above 95%. In 2011, the capital's financial institution was absorbed by the VTB group and has since been its subsidiary.

In April 2012, almost 100% of the shares (a very small part remained with the minority shareholder) of Bezhitsa Bank already belonged to VTB 24, and Dmitry Rudenko, who had previously worked as deputy chairman of Russian Standard, became the head of the board. He had enormous experience in the consumer lending market (including the development of POS loans, which were quite new for Russia - at retail outlets when purchasing goods). Other top managers of Russian Standard also joined the senior management team of the financial structure. In October 2012, Bezhitsa-Bank carried out renaming and rebranding, changing its name. This is how Leto Bank appeared, Moscow became the city where the organization’s central office was located.

Business model

Now Leto Bank is an institution specializing in the so-called mass retail segment of the consumer lending market. The main products include issuing loans in express form (including through applications in retail chains), in cash or by cards. Many credit and cash departments have been opened throughout the country, a new national brand has appeared - “Leto Bank”, reviews of which are available on all thematic online portals. Historically, the first trading organizations to sign partnership agreements with the subsidiary of VTB 24 were the DNS (sale of digital equipment) and Elmekh (sale of fur products) networks. Leto Bank's credit programs are designed to facilitate the purchase of goods and payment for services for people with low solvency (or limited at the time of purchase). Issuing loans is extremely simplified - a minimum of documents is needed, the decision is made quickly. But this business model is supported by very high rates - at least 29.9% per annum (relative to POS loans and car loans).

Asset structure and priorities

Despite the rapid growth of popularity in the country, Leto Bank, in essence, remains a “startup”. The structure of the institution's liabilities is represented only by the internal budget, assets - in the form of interbank loans, corporate accounts in a specialized account with the Central Bank of Russia. About half of Leto Bank's assets are involved in financing infrastructure, opening new offices around the country, and ensuring informatization processes. Thanks to effective investment, the bank was able to gain the trust of its clients in a fairly short period of time. This young but proven financial institution offers borrowers favorable interest rates and a good level of service, backed by qualified staff. The target group of Leto Bank borrowers is a married resident of the administrative center of a constituent entity of the Russian Federation with an income of 20 thousand rubles and working in a small organization. The institution focuses special attention on repeat customers, offering them profitable options.

Cash loans

When a new brand was created in the form of Leto Bank OJSC, the management of VTB 24 planned to concentrate the institution’s work in those segments where the parent structure does not operate - the segment of mass services for the population. Therefore, the conditions for issuing loans from the new bank are much simplified. The flagship of the Leto Bank brand is a cash loan. As a rule, these are “Summer-Money” express loans, the decision on which is made in a few minutes (the larger the amount, the longer). The borrower only needs to show a passport (if the amount is up to 100 thousand, if more, other documents will be required).

The rate for this product line is 29.9-39.9%, which corresponds to the market average. At the same time, Leto Bank offers a very special product, the analogue of which is not very often found in other financial organizations: a preferential loan for reliable borrowers at an effective rate of 19.9% ​​per annum. That is, upon completion of loan payments, the difference is returned to the borrower as if he had paid the specified interest. Partial or full repayment is allowed; money is deposited into the account according to an annuity scheme. There is a minimum payment - its size depends on the loan amount.

Additional services

Leto Bank, reviews of which are largely determined by the quality of additional services, can offer the borrower a number of options that are harmoniously combined with the main banking products. Among these, for example, is the “I miss a payment” service: the client can make a one-time late payment once a year, and no sanctions are provided for this (except that the loan term will move forward by a month). The “Change the payment date” option is interesting: if a person does not have time to make the scheduled payment, then he can postpone the date of payment by 15 days. The service costs 90 rubles.

There is a “Reduce Payment” service that allows you to somewhat restructure the loan: once during the period of using the loan, you can reduce the payments by increasing the total loan term. Leto Bank also has a product such as the “Insurance Protection Program” - issuing a policy in case of difficulties in repaying loans. The price of the service is 0.74% of the loan amount, debited from the account monthly.

Features of loans

Leto Bank, where cash loans are available with a minimum of documents, is distinguished by exceptional transparency of loan terms. What the client sees in the contract is what he pays, without any fine print. When applying for a loan, they offer to take out insurance voluntarily, unlike competing banks, where it is sometimes imposed. Quick decision-making on applications is due to a perfect scoring system and solvency assessment. Therefore, this credit institution does not require a large number of documents, and money is often issued on the day of the application.

A very important factor is that Leto Bank’s infrastructure is integrated with that of VTB 24, so all ATMs and offices of the latter institution are at the disposal of “summer” clients. In principle, borrowers have plenty of opportunities for repayment - in offices, through terminals, and money transfer systems. Leto Bank also has established procedures for remote communication with clients: for example, if you need to use one of the services described above, you just need to call the institution’s call center, you don’t have to go to the office. The Leto Bank hotline is always ready to communicate with borrowers.

Comfort for the client

Despite the fact that giving office interiors shades of ease and friendliness is a trend of almost all Russian credit institutions, Leto Bank is distinguished by its “seasonal” concept, based on its name, of warm tones, creating an atmosphere of comfort in its own premises. Apart from the beautiful design, the organization of the bank’s offices itself is pleasing: all customer service centers are open every day and have payment terminals. People are also attracted by the positive word in the name of the bank - summer. The institution's addresses are easily found in most city online directories.

As mentioned above, without commissions or interest, you can deposit money for a loan through the VTB 24 infrastructure, elements of which are presented in abundance in most cities. The management of the Leto Bank brand also emphasizes the concept of respect and friendliness towards customers. Office hours are not the only criterion for borrowers' comfort, however. To some extent, part of the friendliness model is loyalty in assessing the solvency of clients - a loan from this institution can be obtained by pensioners and students, to whom the attitude of other financial organizations (including VTB 24) is often not the most trusting. The most important advantage that Leto Bank has is that the loan application is processed very quickly.

Loans through third party banks

Leto Bank is trying to experiment - in particular, through selling its loan products through other partner institutions. According to information in the specialized media, one of these is the Podem! bank, which already issues loans according to Leta standards and uses software from the subsidiary VTB 24. Experts believe that we are talking about banking franchising here - until now a little-known form of interaction between financial institutions in Russia. The organization's management believes that such cooperation helps analyze the market in regions where the brand does not yet have offices. At the same time, the bank “Let’s go!” actually shares new clients with a partner, trying to “test” new models of its own products. There is also a critical assessment among experts of the interaction between the two credit organizations: the franchisor may suffer losses associated with its image. Selling products from someone else's bank may not be clear to customers. Although, as experts admit, “Let’s go!” receives guaranteed commission income at zero

Success in the language of numbers

Leto Bank is actively studying the Russian consumer loan market. According to the estimates of the institution’s experts, the real “debt burden” of the Russian population in this segment, contrary to many pessimistic assessments, does not exceed 10%. The critically acceptable level of delinquency in the bank’s business model at the time of launch was 15%, but as the scoring and underwriting mechanisms improve, this figure is planned to be reduced to 12% by the end of 2014. From the point of view of personnel selection, Leto Bank, reviews of which are left not only by borrowers, but also by employees, relies on young people, which makes it possible to minimize the “turnover” of personnel characteristic of this market segment.

During 2013, the bank's portfolio grew 29 times and exceeded 1 billion rubles. This indicator consists of two components - cash loans and POS loans (16 and 4 billion, respectively). The geography of places where the Leto Bank brand exists is also growing - Rostov-on-Don, Kemerovo and other large Russian cities have joined them. By the end of 2014, the bank's management expects the portfolio to grow to 28 billion. Improving the infrastructure of this financial institution has made it possible to reduce the average time for reviewing a loan application to 10 minutes, as a result of which queues of borrowers waiting for a decision in credit centers have almost disappeared. The work of the staff becomes more productive - Leto Bank understands this very well, the feedback from its employees simply cannot be negative due to the well-coordinated organization of interaction between various divisions.

Borrower assessment

The Leto Bank scoring and underwriting system is based on an automated system based on SAS Credit Scoring and SAS Real-Time Decision, designed to make decisions in real time. Several credit bureaus are also involved in this process. Work is underway in the online direction: borrowers are assessed, among other things, on the basis of profiles on social networks. The bank also plans to introduce a service that analyzes the borrower’s personal connections: who he knows, what age and gender these people are, how they, in turn, interact with each other and what relation they have to the bank.

Checking a client according to this scheme will allow, in addition to studying the social profile, to determine how honest he is when filling out the application. At the same time, experts assess the role of humans in “scoring” and underwriting as high: not a single, even the most advanced automated system can analyze multifactorial data about the borrower. Leto Bank, where loan applications are considered in a combined manner - both by an employee and automatically - holds similar views.

Credit cards

Currently, Leto Bank’s product line does not include credit cards, but the start of work with them is planned for 2014. So far, only cash loans are issued, but the management of the institution understands that the card is a tool needed by the market that will increase sales. At the same time, the credit card is intended to become an independent banking product. Management announced plans to open this area to several specialized media outlets. Leto Bank, whose cards are planned to be issued for investments from VTB 24, is taking, according to market experts, a logical step.

Unsecured loans with a high interest rate, analysts believe, will find good compatibility with the “card” format. Economists consider this lending segment to be in high demand in Russia. Perhaps the marketers of the VTB 24 subsidiary should not wait until the end of 2014, but try another time of year - summer. The addresses of points where you can order “credit cards” will then be prompted to clients by employees of the institution’s offices.

POS lending

As already mentioned, the management of Leto Bank employs people who have been involved in POS lending for many years: when a store buyer, not finding enough money to purchase an item he likes, can take out a small loan for it. Market experts believe that competition between various financial institutions in this segment is growing: retailers themselves invite representatives from banks to their outlets. The borrower can compare offers from several credit institutions and submit applications to all of them at once in order to then choose the most profitable option. The main task of market players, including Leto Bank, is to improve assessment mechanisms and increase the efficiency of infrastructure. Competition is high, and therefore the client will choose the institution that, first of all, will give the most prompt response to the application. The aspect of positive work with the borrower is also important - if the latter does not like something, then next time he will choose another organization, and Leto Bank is clearly aware of this. Customer reviews - positive ones - contribute to the formation and development of a successful banking business.