Platina Bank was incorporated in 1992 as a highly specialized bank to perform operations in particular segments of the financial market. Its aim was catering to the needs of a well-defined circle of elite clients which were offered premium banking services. The Bank's main clients were Moscow major enterprises.

Having begun from scratch, without a built up client base and a big name in the financial world, the Bank was not constrained by the rules and stereotypes of the old economic system and took advantage of an opportunity to develop a financial business according to its own high standards. For the passed period, the Bank succeeded in creating its own traditions, elaborating approaches to operations, fundamentally new to Russia, and formed a team of highly professional experts.

The structure of the Bank, which was one of the first to apply a technology well-reputed in the developed countries, the Private Banking for VIP Corporate, essentially differs from the classic administrative structures, typical for Russian banks. The organizational and administrative core of the Bank is its Credit Committee, composed of most qualified personal bankers, managing the largest volumes of client assets.

Personal bankers link the client to the Bank's functional subdivisions, helping the latter to adapt to the client's requirements.

The Bank has implemented a collective information-field concept that allows particularly fast fulfillment of any client assignments. The office is purpose designed to facilitate extra-fast flow of information.

The geographical location of the Bank's various divisions is exclusively subordinated to the needs of its clients. Branch offices are set up at the locations of the large organizations we serve to perform precisely designated tasks. On the whole, the Bank avoided the creation of a wide network of unspecialized branches, having given preference to the implementation of the most modern technologies that enable clients to receive a most comprehensive set of services without visiting the Bank. Current operations are performed utilizing a product called "Bank-Client", or over the Internet by means of the CyberPlat® system (today over 90% of client payments are handled via these two media). A personal banker comes to the client to settle any possible atypical situation, thus providing "in-home banking". Our top-rated clients are visited by personal bankers on a daily basis.

1993 - 1995 – Interbank Market Operations

Before the crisis of 1995, the Bank concentrated mostly on placing assets in the interbank credit market. It created a network of partner banks, developed and implemented “Interbank Credits” telecommunication system—one of the first trading systems in Russia based on the secure electronic circulation of documents. The Bank’s active work in the given market earned it a well deserved appreciation in the banking circles. By May 1995, according to “Kommersant Daily”, the Bank ranked 5th in Russia in the interbank lending volumes. During that period, credit operations for the production sector of the economy held a minor place in the Bank's assets structure.

1996 - 1997 – Industrial Lending

After the financial crisis in the summer of 1995, operations in the interbank credit market became unacceptably risky, and thus their proportion was radically curtailed. At that, the Bank managed to timely rearrange its assets, practically avoiding any material losses.

The banking system of the country as a whole was experiencing serious problems from non-payment and delays in the repayment of credits. Platina Bank allocated special attention to ensuring full legal backing for its banking activities, with due allowance for the unfolding changes to the country's legal system. The Bank's legal service was considerably strengthened, and in particular, its experts developed methods of recovering assets from unscrupulous borrowers, including the suspension of accounts abroad. The practical implementation of this "know-how" resulted in creating a number of legal precedents.

1995-1997 were the years when the Bank determined its position within the updated financial and economic system of Russia, choosing areas of activity and further growth. The main result of this marketing search was the creation of a strategy based on a thorough analysis of the levels of risk for different segments of the financial market. So, for example, it was considered inexpedient to place more than 20% of assets in the interbank market. The State Treasury Bill (GKO) market, formed by the state, was also considered by the Bank's experts to be excessively risky due to the state's regular failures in fulfilling its obligations on the repayment of loans received from foreign and home creditors. A similar assessment was made in respect of the stock market; this assessment proved correct during the global financial crisis that began in the autumn of 1997, and during the events of August 17, 1998.

Throughout the whole time of operation, the Bank has never acquired any State Treasury Bills or Federal Loan Bonds, and has not concluded any foreign currency forward contracts

Since 1996, the Bank has accomplished a sizable work in building an especially reliable credit portfolio, focusing on lending to industrial enterprises. At the same time, the Bank has been particularly careful in selecting borrowers, giving priority to the communication and production sectors with sustainable and guaranteed sales of produced goods and services. Specifically, electric power production, telecommunications, construction, transport, raw material processing, and the food industry were regarded as the most stably operating and promising.

1998 - 2001 – Transition from Interest to Commission Income

1998 was a year of crisis for the Russian financial system. August 17 dealt with pseudo-banks occupied not with investments in the economy but gambling in risky markets. The banks that were closest to the Government, and hence the largest, ceased payments, inflicting extreme difficulties on their clients.
In this situation, Platina Bank (which throughout its entire history has never invested a single ruble in State Treasury Bills or Federal Loan Bonds, and which has not concluded any forward contracts) held a considerable advantage over the banks that were suffering notable losses in the troubled sectors of the financial market.

The volume of operations involving bank, commercial, and traveler's checks increased manifold. At the same time, the volume of commercial checks, accepted for collection in 1999, was almost double that of the largest retail bank — the Savings Bank of the Russian Federation.

2002 Present day – Investments and Commission Income
2001—2002 were the years of a continued business recession in the Western countries that began in 2001, after a prolonged period of sustained economic development. The world financial system based on dollar domination showed signs of instability. Prices for the important groups of raw materials, that form the base of Russian exports, increased.

The increased volume of currency inflow led to an unceasing rise in manufacturing costs inside Russia. At the consistently high ruble inflation rate, the real ruble exchange rate grew, and thus devalued the currency savings. In such economic conditions, only well-chosen fixed-capital investments allow to maintain the value and receive guaranteed profit.

In response to the observed economic tendencies, the Bank modified its priorities in the field of active operations. While continuing to provide short-term enterprise lending, the Bank began long-term investing in the real sector of the economy.

The implementation of an investment project of constructing an A-class banking and business center on the Ovchinnikovskaya Embankment was expedited. The Banking and Business Center is located in the very center of Moscow, Zamoskvorechye, on the Vodootvodny Canal Embankment — one of the most beautiful districts of old Moscow. The first part, of 24,000 sq. m., and the second part, of 14,000 sq. m., of the A-class office building were constructed meeting high safety and reliability standards and fitted out with the most modern equipment. The first building includes 14 over-ground and 2 underground floors, an underground parking lot, restaurant and cafeteria; a helipad is provided. The second 4-floor part is designed to comprise a single ensemble with the first one.

The consummation of the project was a much publicized event in the business circles and had an extensive coverage in the press. The authoritative business daily, Vedomosti, (#56 of 02.04.2004) estimated the deal as one of the biggest and signal. According to the poll conducted by the Firm’s Secret business weekly, the sale of the Business Center on the Ovchinnikovskaya Embankment was rated the first in the category “The Most Significant Sale of Commercial Property in 2004”.

Agricultural projects in the Moscow Region and Chernozemye became a new trend in the Bank’s investment activity. The Bank established the Rodnoe Pole agricultural holding, which consists of several agricultural enterprises in the Podolsk, Narofominsk, Mozhaysk and Istra districts of the Moscow region. The enterprises of the holding include 150 sq. km of land in the Moscow region, over 500 units of agricultural machinery, and 4.5 thousand of cattle head.

The Bank’s entry into the period of mid-term and long-term investments in principal capital (“real values”) signifies a qualitative increase in the Bank’s reliability along with maintaining a traditionally high level of liquidity. It is becoming particularly valuable against the background of inflation processes, increasing competition in the financial sector, and the decrease in interest rates and bank commission fees.

Generally, the Bank’s implemented a development strategy, as manifested in particular periods, has always focused on top priority care for client interests and the preeminence of guaranteed safety of their assets. Reasonable conservatism in asset allocation and maintaining high liquidity has always distinguished the Bank’s approach to task solution in all periods of development. For entire 13 years of work, including the periods of acute crises in the financial sector, the Bank always accepted and executed payments strictly on time, not having allowed for even a day’s delay.

The bank is an affiliated member of the Mastercard international payment system under the sponsorship of Russian Europay Members' Association since 2007. The emission of cards will start at the end of 2008. In September 2008 the Bank obtained a merchant account license from the VISA international payment system.