Russia rocked by wave of bank defaults

In a dramatic sign that the Russian government intended to hold senior officials accountable for the failure of Bank of Moscow, Gennady Melikyan, head of the oversight committee at Russia’s central bank, resigned early last month.

In all likelihood, Melikyan’s head rolled because of the $14 billion bailout, which included a R295 billion ($10.5 billion) central bank loan, as the government had to rush in to plug a gaping hole in the bank’s balance sheet that was discovered when state-run VTB Bank attempted a hostile takeover and found it had bitten off more than it could chew.