MOSCOW, July 11 (Reuters) - Russia's second largest

bank, VTB, has carried out a reverse share split that

will raise the value of each individual share to 50 roubles

($0.57) from 0.01 roubles, the bank said on Thursday.

A reverse share split, or stock merge, consolidates the

number of existing shares held by shareholders into fewer

shares.

The reverse share split was designed to make it easier for

investors to trade VTB's shares, CFO Dmitry Pyanov said.

"We hope that the temporary suspension of trading in the

bank's shares on Moscow Exchange due to the procedure will not

cause our investors inconvenience and we expect that trading

with a new nominal value will start from July 15," Pyanov said.

($1 = 87.5000 roubles)

(Reporting by Elena Fabrichnaya; Writing by Alexander Marrow;

Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)