Russian President Vladimir Putin held a meeting with Petr Aven, the chairman of the board of directors at Alfa Banking Group, at his residence in Novo-Ogarevo on Feb. 12.

In response to a question by Putin about the health of the bank in the current economic environment, Aven said that last year was quite successful

"Our retail credit portfolio grew by 42 percent and liabilities by 29 percent. In the corporate sector, our growth was not so fast: mostly we were clearing up the portfolio, keeping an eye on its quality, and yet it grew by 6 percent," Aven said. "There are no reasons for serious concerns. All in all, the financial sector is coping with the situation and so are we. Our equity grew by 17 percent over the year."

During the discussion, the issue of toxic loans was touched upon, and Aven said that the bank has no problems with such loans.

"Today the rate of late payments in our corporate portfolio is just 1.5 percent. We are very conservative; we have always perused an aggressive policy in the creation of provisions. They grew up again by nearly 9 percent. Therefore, we are very well insured," Aven said. "Presently, the bank has over 100,000 corporate customers. We are crediting practically all sectors of the economy. Our lending to small and medium-sized business is going with a priority growth rate."