Alfa-Bank JSC (Russian: Альфа-банк АО) is the largest of the private banks in Russia.
It was founded in 1990 by Russian businessman Mikhail Fridman, who remains the controlling owner. Headquartered in Moscow, it operates in seven countries, providing financial services to 22 million active corporate customers and over 1 million active retail clients as of 2021. On 1 March 2022, Mikhail Fridman and Pyotr Aven left the bank's board of directors after coming under EU sanctions imposed in response to the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. For the same reason, the bank has been sanctioned by US and EU authorities beginning in February 2022 and 2023, respectively.
Wiki English | |
Native name | Альфа-банк АО |
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Company type | Joint stock company |
Industry | Banking Financial services Investment services |
Founded | 20 December 1990 |
Headquarters | Moscow , |
Number of locations | 486 offices |
Products | Consumer banking Corporate banking Investment banking |
US$ 1.35 billion (2020) | |
Total assets | US$ 61.85 billion (2020) |
Total equity | US$ 8.67 billion (2020) |
Owner | Mikhail Fridman Pyotr Aven German Khan |
Number of employees | 26,008 (2020) |
Rating | Ba2 (Moody's), BB+(S&P), BBB− (Fitch) (2021) |
Website | AlfaBank.ru |
Timeline:
Since 2004, Alfa-Bank has been assisting "Life Line", a charity programme for aiding seriously ill children. Alfa-Bank was the first company to organise a collection of private donations to the foundation. Since September 2008, bank customers have the opportunity to transfer cash donations to help children with the help of the Alfa-Click Internet Bank or a conventional bank transfer without a bank commission. The bank also cooperates with WWF, supports most of its initiatives, and also invites its clients to provide financial support to the fund.
The bank operates a volunteer organization called "Give Kindness". The bank collects humanitarian aid for orphanages, boarding schools and social shelters, and also attracts employees as volunteers. Every year, the bank organizes charity events called "Children's Day", "Help Me Get Ready for School", and "Christmas Miracle".
Since 1995, the bank has run the "Alfa-Chance" student scholarship programme, which gives school graduates from various regions of Russia the opportunity to receive higher education at leading universities in the country. Since 2008, Alfa-Bank, in cooperation with HSE, has run a programme to provide nominal scholarships to first-year students from Russian regions (except Moscow and St. Petersburg) who have won prizes at All-Russian School Olympiads and the HSE Multi-Profile Olympiad. In total, the "Alfa-Chance" program involves about 17 higher education institutions. The bank operates the Alfa Fellowship Program, which enables young specialists from the United States, Great Britain and Germany to undergo an internship in Russia.
Alfa-Bank plays an active role in developing cultural and educational activities, primarily to support national art. On 7 June 2000, the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and Alfa-Bank signed a cooperation agreement, under which the participants agreed to work together to organise joint cultural events and creative projects. Every year, exhibitions and concerts are held with the support of a bank in Russia. In addition, Alfa-Bank participates in the organisation of exhibitions and concerts by Russian cultural figures abroad. For example, on 18 February 2000, a concert by the Moscow Virtuosos Symphony Orchestra conducted by maestro Vladimir Spivakov was held in London. It was the orchestra's first performance in London for 10 years. The presentation was sponsored by Alfa-Bank. Alfa-Bank and the Moscow Literary Fund run a scholarship support programme for writers, aimed at motivating authors to create new works of literature: prose, poetry, drama, translations, and books for children.
The bank is also one of the co-founders of the "Big Book" National Literary Award.
Alfa-Bank periodically sponsors or participates in the organisation of concerts by foreign stars in Russia, including Bono (2010), Elton John (1995, 2001, and 2007), Aerosmith (2007), Sting (1996, 2001, and 2006), Whitney Houston (2004), and Paul McCartney (2003 and 2004). Some of the singers invited were performing in Russia for the first time. Alfa-Bank also organises an electronic music and technology festival called Alfa Future People. Headliners have included stars of the world electronic scene such as Paul Oakenfold, Avicii, Skrillex, Pompeya, Tesla Boy, and Infected Mushroom, among others.
In July 2014, Alfa-Bank announced the launch of the City Tours with Alfa social project. The Bank provides financial and organisational support to the country's best museums, as well as tour bureaus supporting the development of city tours in Russia.
In early 2021, Alfa-Bank hired the Russian rapper Morgenshtern as a "youth director". This was preceded by the appearance of a scandalous video in which the Federal Antimonopoly Service found violations of Russian advertising law. The singer's task was to attract 100,000 young new clients. Some experts see this venture as a reputational risk. After an administrative case was initiated against Morgenshtern in April 2021 for drug propaganda, Alfa-Bank disavowed previous messages and called them an "advertising stunt".
On 21 January 2014, Alfa-Bank and Mikhail Fridman filed a lawsuit for the protection of their business reputation against the chairman of the Yabloko Party, Sergei Mitrokhin, the editorial staff of the Izvestia newspaper and a correspondent from the newspaper. They considered that statements made by Mitrokhin and Izvestia that "Aleksei Navalny is carrying out political orders from the Alfa Group" did not correspond to reality and discredited their business reputation. However, the court refused to satisfy the company's claim against Mitrokhin.
In the United States, the Jones Day law firm represents numerous Russian entities, including Alfa-Bank and Alfa Group.
On February 23, 2022, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the beginning of military operations in Ukraine, launching an invasion. This prompted countries to impose severe economic sanctions on Russian individuals, companies, and banks in addition to those placed on Russia in response to the 2021-2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis. On 24 February 2022, U.S. President Joe Biden announced sanctions on several Russian banks, including Alfa-Bank; the restrictions include "dealings in new debt of greater than 14 days maturity and new equity". Alfa-Bank's press service made a statement in the Russian press that these sanctions would not affect the bank's operations.
In April, Apple removed the Alfa-Bank application from its App Store. Already downloaded versions continued to work. In August, the “Деньги пришли” (Money Came) application appeared in the App Store, replicating the functionality of the official Alfa-Bank application, but developed by a third-party company. Other Russian banks have resorted to similar measures before, but "alternative" applications were cleared out in about a week.
The EU adopted sanctions in its 10th package in February 2023. The UK first imposed sanctions on 24 March 2022, increased in March 2023 and in December 2023 increased them again to include a prohibition on correspondent banking relationships.
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