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Foreigners Own a Quarter in Banks
Between January 2007 and January 2008, foreign companies' shares in the authorized capital of Russian banks increased from 15.9 percent to 25.08 percent. Thus, foreigners have a quarter stake in Russian credit organizations, notes Vedomosti newspaper, citing data from the Central Bank of Russia.
Some banks belong to Russian businessmen through offshore companies. When their share is excluded, foreigner ownership of Russian banks is reduced to 22.8 percent. In monetary terms, nonresident investment in Russian banks totals 183.5 billion rubles, 203.9 percent more than on January 1, 2007.
There are 202 banks in Russia that have foreign shares in them and 61 banks are wholly owned by foreigners. Last year, there were only 12 such banks. In November 2007, Russia's largest bank, the Savings Bank of Russia (Sberbank) reported that foreigners had acquired 26 percent of its authorized capital. Part of the authorized capital of Sberbank's largest competitor, VTB, is owned by foreigners as well, since it held an IPO on Russian stock exchanges and the London Stock Exchange in May 2007.
www.kommersant.com
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