MOSCOW, May 16 - RAPSI. The National Reserve Bank has gone to court to contest the watchdog's audit results which indicate the necessity of taking steps towards bankruptcy prevention.

The audit was carried out from January 30 to April 13 and exposed the underestimation of credit risks, as well as a lack of loan, stock and bank guarantee loss reserves.

According to the bank, the audit was politically motivated. The bank challenged the audit instruction from the beginning and is now seeking to quash its results.

If the bank fails to replace its assets or build up own funds, its capital may shrink by 38.1 percent.

Established in 1994, the NRB ranked 94th among Russian banks in terms of assets as of April 1. It made 121.7 million rubles ($4 million) in net profits in 2011.

Its beneficiary and chairman Alexander Lebedev own a 73.7 percent stake, VEB Capital's head Yuri Kudimov holds 18.38 percent and UBS bank 4.5 percent.