$532m bailout for Russian bank endorsed by Bruce Willis as rouble plummets

Russia’s central bank announced a bailout of the troubled Trust Bank on Monday - the first such rescue in the country’s currency crisis. The Bank of Russia said it had placed Trust under its supervision and would hand it 30bn roubles ($532m) to avoid bankruptcy. It did not officially confirm that the problems at the lender, whose products are advertised by Hollywood actor Bruce Willis, were linked to the currency’s plunging value.

With the economy grinding to a halt and approaching a possible contraction in 2015, consumer spending has slowed causing a rise in the volume of nonperforming loans across the banking system and a slowdown in consumer lending.

Wall Street Journal report

Trust had already been under pressure to boost its capital buffer before the currency came under intense pressure this month amid plunging oil prices exacerbated by Western sanctions. The central bank’s Deposit Insurance Agency was to supervise Trust’s operations with immediate effect and a major bank was being found to provide additional investment, a statement said. The decisions were taken at an emergency meeting and were designed to provide Trust with sufficient liquidity to continue operations without any repercussions for clients.

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