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Banking System Strong in World Crisis
The Central Bank of Russia is claiming that the liquidity crisis has strengthened banking finances. It published data today on the condition of the banking system in December of last year. Assets in the system grew by 6.8 percent in that month (44 percent of the year) and the profitability of the banking system increased 3 percent for the year. This indicates that the baking system has come through the beginning of the world financial instability well and, as of the end of last year, the Russian banking system could not be characterized as problematic.
The data show that the growth of deposits is not slowing. They rose 7.9 percent over November, 6.8 percent for individual depositors. Nonetheless, that growth was faster in the first half of the year and slightly higher the previous year. In spite of problems with external crediting, foreign capital continued to flow into the Russian banking system in December, although at a slower rate. International interbank crediting increased by $6 million and its growth in the fourth quarter was 15.5 percent. External funding remains accessible to Russian banks.
Economists note that the requirements for crediting were toughened in the latter half of the year, especially for individuals. Consumer crediting slowed in the middle of the year after banks turned their attention more toward industry. By December, overdue consumer loans had fallen to 3.11 percent, from 3.3 percent in November. Total crediting increased significantly last year for both individuals and Consumers took out 17.1 billion rubles in credit in 2006, and 30.1 billion rubles in 2007. Crediting of enterprises rose from 57.2 billion rubles to 83.8 billion rubles in the same period.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of Feb. 08, 2008
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Photo: Dmitry Chebotaev
