Feb. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Russian regional lenders asked the government to moderate talks initiated by foreign financial firms concerned that banks and companies will struggle to repay some of the $400 billion of debt due in the next four years. âSeveral western banks asked about holding discussions,â said Anatoly Aksakov, head of the Russian Association of Regional Banks, whose 450 members include Citigroup Inc.âs Russia unit, Alfa Bank and VTB Group. âIt was their initiative to have talks on this topic to look at restructuring the debts of several companies, so that everyone can be calm.â The government âisnât planning to considerâ restructuring foreign corporate debt and isnât in talks with foreign banks on restructuring, a Finance Ministry official said by telephone today, declining to be named in line with ministry rules. Speculation of European bank losses on Russian loans drove declines in the euro against the dollar and yen today. Russia has pledged more than $200 billion in emergency funding as plunging oil prices push the worldâs biggest energy supplier into its worst economic crisis since Boris Yeltsinâs government defaulted on $40 billion of domestic debt in 1998. âI think that so far it is nothing more than just an idea that this Association of Russian banks came up with,â said Mikhail Galkin, head of fixed-income and credit research at MDM Bank in Moscow. âI donât think that many borrowers themselves have intentions to restructure and are aware of this idea.â The association wrote to the Russian government after talking with banks including HSBC Holdings Plc that had sought clarity about the capacity of some companies to meet obligations, said Aksakov, who is also a lawmaker in the lower house of parliament. The government hadnât responded, he said. .... Laine Santana, a spokeswoman at HSBC in Hong Kong, was unable to comment. A Deutsche Bank AG official in Singapore declined to comment. Deutsche Bank is among the foreign banks that indicated it would welcome Russian government involvement, Nikkei reported. http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=anySl7cDqQqQ&refer=home Where is my premium Vodka ?
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