The number of banks in Russia goes down

The number of banks in Russia goes down, the state corporation “Deposit Insurance Agency” reported.

“At present time 892 banks are the participants of the deposit insurance system, including 783 active banks, licensed for work with natural persons, 10 active banks, which lost the license for the right to work with natural persons, and 99 banks, found at the stage of liquidation” – the Agency’s site reports.

At the beginning of 2012 897 banks were the participants of the deposit insurance system, including 796 banks, working with natural persons, and in January 2011 this figure was equal to 910.

The statistics of the Deposit Insurance Agency can be taken as a basis, since more than 90% of Russian banks are the participants of the deposit insurance system. At that the number of banks in the country goes down mainly due to mergers and take-overs.

“Consolidation of the bank system is an evident tendency” – the president of the Russian Banks Association Anatoly Aksakov stated during his press conference in Ufa.

He say that it is necessary to make the order of opening of new banks more liberate instead of the course towards development of micro-financing organizations and credit co-operatives, supported by Russian authorities. Necessary control of such organizations is absent.

In order to raise the level of protection of clients of so-called non-bank financial organizations, where deposit interest rate often exceeds 200% per annum and higher Anatoly Aksakov offers to introduce the notion “usurious interest”, which should be calculated either by the Central Bank of Russia or by the Federal Service for financial markets. The corresponding bill is already introduced to State Duma, he reported.