MDM Bank and URSA Bank shareholders voted Friday to approve a merger between the two companies, a deal that will allow the newly created holding to become one of the country's 10 largest banks.

At an extraordinary shareholders' meeting, MDM stockholders unanimously approved the measure, while 99.64 percent of URSA Bank shareholders agreed to the deal at a separate meeting.

The two banks announced the merger in December and must now wait for the Central Bank to approve and register the transaction, the final step for completing the deal.

MDM Bank and Bankovsky Holding MDM, the company's closed joint stock company, will be merged into URSA, with the new holding retaining the MDM name. The new bank will be legally registered in URSA's current place of registration, Novosibirsk.

In a previous announcement, the banks said MDM chairman Oleg Vyugin and CEO Igor Kuzin would retain their positions at the new holding, while URSA chairman Igor Kim would become CEO of MDM and the primary executor of the merger.

The new holding will hold 72 billion rubles ($2.2 billion) in capital and 523 billion rubles in assets, MDM said. Sergei Popov, the current owner of MDM Bank, will have a 56 percent stake in the new holding, Kim will have a 9.8 percent stake and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development will control 4.9 percent of the new company, Vedomosti reported in March.

Despite URSA's strong foothold in the regions, MDM is largely considered to be the stronger entity, as it was less exposed to foreign debt when the credit crisis hit.