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Banking in Russia is subject to significant regulations as banks in the Russian Federation have to meet mandatory Russian legislation requirements, and comply with numerous Bank of Russia instructions and regulations.
During the first few years following the Russian Revolution, all banks' assets were nationalized and liabilities canceled in late 1917, and banking was declared a state monopoly. During war communism from January 1920 to October 1921, there were no banks at all in operation in Russia. With the New Economic Policy, a single-tier banking system gradually took shape. Following the NEP, the Soviet system relied on several specialized financial institutions, which were reorganized in waves of reform following major leadership transitions in 1928-1932, 1955-1959, and 1987-1988:
Perestroika reforms affected the banking system. In June 1987, a plenum of the Central Committee of the CPSUs took place, where it was decided to improve the system. In July 1987, the Central Committee of the CPSU and the "Council of Ministers of the USSR made Resolution No. 821 "On improving the system of banks in the country and strengthening their impact on improving the efficiency of the economy.
The creation of banks on a commercial basis was permitted by the Law "On Cooperation in the USSR", adopted on May 26, 1988. A number of new cooperative banks licensed starting from August 1988, the first being Soyuz-Bank in Shymkent (now in Kazakhstan) followed by Patent Bank in Leningrad.
With the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Savings Bank's Russian operations were reorganized as Sberbank in 1990-1991. The Promstroybank was abolished in August 1991, and Vnesheconombank suspended payments in December 1991. The latter was eventually reorganized in 2007 as a Russian state development bank, and eventually in 2018 as a state development corporation branded VEB.RF. Sberbank continues to this day as one of Russia's largest banks, retaining senior ex-Gosbank personnel and most of the present Russian government's banking business.
The modern Russia inherited the banking system of the Soviet Union, with a few big state banks (like Sberbank, Vneshekonombank, and Vneshtorgbank). After more than 15 years of reforms in Russia, there are now 1183 financial institutions with 3286 regional branches. [2]
In 1988, 41 commercial and cooperative banks were registered in the USSR, including 25 banks on the territory of the RSFSR. By January the 1st, 1990, the statutes of 225 commercial and cooperative banks were registered, including 184 in 1989. [3] In 1990, in connection with the declaration of state sovereignty by the RSFSR, the Russian Republican Bank of the State Bank of the USSR and Russian banks of specialized banks were declared the property of the RSFSR. Also, the Supreme Council of the RSFSR decided to transform all institutions of state specialized banks in the autonomous republics, territories and regions into commercial banks before January 1, 1991. In this regard, the number of banks in the RSFSR increased several times in the second half of 1990. As a result, the number of banks in the Russian Federation was 1360 on January 1, 1992. [4]
Beginning in early October 2008, several Russian banks failed due to liquidity issues related to US credit derivatives. Russian bank Globex barred customers from withdrawing money from their accounts on October 15, 2008, in the first bank run of the current global economic crisis.
In June 2013 Elvira Nabiullina was appointed as the chairman of the Central Bank of Russia. [5] In an interview with television channel Channel one she said Russia's Central Bank has no blacklists of banks subject to license revocation. She added that the Central Bank will not warn any bank about such measures. She said, "As a matter of fact, no one knows who might be the next, We cannot warn anyone. Moreover, it would be wrong to do that. I know not a single country worldwide where the central banks would warn about license revocation. It is not ruled out that in case a bank is warned, a mala fide owner or managers could divert assets, making settlements with the closest clients, so a rank and file depositor will finally receive much less money". [6]
And so, in December 2013 Central Bank of Russia revoked licenses of three commercial banks, Investbank, Smolensky Bank and the Bank of Project Finance and later then Ecoprombank, Masterbank, Simbirsk and many others. [7] State-run Agency for deposits’ insurance paid money to clients. [8]
At the end of 2008, there were 119 million bank cards in circulation in Russia. [9]
In March 2014, amidst the 2014 Crimean crisis, following the passage of a secession referendum, the declaration of independence of the Republic of Crimea from Ukraine and the process of accession to Russia that followed it, U.S. President Barack Obama announced sanctions on Rossiya Bank. International payment systems Visa Inc. and MasterCard suddenly stopped service of credit cards issued by the Rossiya Bank. Non-cash transactions of SMP Bank (owned by Rottenberg brothers) and Sobinbank (100% subsidiary of Rossiya) were also frozen. [10] Many Russian residents turned to national banks operations although they still have no doubt in reliability of foreign transnational financial institutions. [11]
Largest banks in Russia in terms of net assets (millions of rubles) as of December 2020: [12] [13]
| No. | Bank | Assets, in million rubles |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sberbank | 32 421 026 |
| 2 | VTB Bank | 15 813 216 |
| 3 | Gazprombank | 7 613 174 |
| 4 | Alfa-Bank | 4 229 025 |
| 5 | Rosselkhozbank | 3 539 546 |
| 6 | Credit Bank of Moscow | 2 988 171 |
| 7 | Otkritie FC Bank | 2 530 760 |
| 8 | Promsvyazbank | 2 503 499 |
| 9 | Sovcombank | 1 576 708 |
| 10 | Raiffeisenbank | 1 432 353 |
PJSC Sberbank is a Russian majority state-owned banking and financial services company headquartered in Moscow. It was called Sberbank of Russia until 2015. Sberbank has operations in several European nations, primarily post-Soviet countries.
The Central Bank of the Russian Federation, doing business as the Bank of Russia, is the central bank of the Russian Federation. The bank was established on July 13, 1990. The predecessor of the bank can be traced back to the State Bank of the Russian Empire founded in 1860.
Gosbank was the central bank of the Soviet Union from 1922 to 1991 within the country's single-tier banking system. After an extended gap in 1920-1921, it took over the legacy of the State Bank of the Russian Empire. It was eventually terminated on 1 March 1992 following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, and its operations were taken over by the central banks of the successor countries, including the Central Bank of Russia, National Bank of Ukraine, National Bank of Kazakhstan, and others.
Viktor Vladimirovich Gerashchenko, nicknamed Gerakl, was the chairman of the Soviet State bank and the Russian Central Bank during much of the Perestroika and post-Perestroika periods.
Uralsib is a Russian commercial bank, headquartered in Moscow. According to Russian Forbes, as of 2022, it was one of the country's largest banks with the net asset value of approximately 530 billion rubles.
The National Bank of the Republic of Belarus is the central bank of Belarus, located in Minsk. The bank was created in 1922 under the name of "Belarusian Republican Bank" by the Soviet of People's Commissars of Byelorussia, but soon worked under the direction of the State Bank of the USSR. Undergoing reorganizations in 1959 and 1987, the bank appeared in its current form in 1990 after the passage of banking rules upon declaring independence from the Soviet Union.
VEB.RF, or VEB, is a Russian state development corporation and investment company. It was founded in 2007 as a development institute. It has financed more than 300 projects.
Prominvestbank (full name - Joint Stock Commercial Industrial & Investment Bank is a bank based in Ukraine that was formed in August 1992. Its overall history goes back more than 86 years.
Moscow Narodny Bank is a Russian bank. It was established under the Articles of Association approved by the Ministry of Finance on March 3, 1911. It was opened in Moscow on May 9, 1912.
Moscow Narodny Bank Limited (MNB), London was created as an independent bank in October 1919 on the basis of the London branch or Mosnarbank (London) of the Moscow Narodny Bank, which had operated in London since 1915.
The Ministry of Finance of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, known prior to 1946 as the People's Commissariat for Finance, or shortened to Narkomfin, was part of the government of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic from 1918 until the fall of the USSR in 1991. It was subordinate to the Ministry of Finance of the USSR.
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Sergey Sergeevich Rodionov is a Russian publisher and banker. He was the founder, co-owner and CEO of Rodionov Publishing House until 2004. He was also the deputy chairman of the Central Bank of Russia in 1991. First wife- Svetlana Loschatova, chairman of Slaviansky bank, Moscow. Second wife- Olga Rodionova.
Rossiysky Kredit was a Russian commercial bank that ceased operations on 24 July 2015, when the Central Bank of Russia withdrew the bank's license.
Dmitri Alekseevich Lebedev is a Russian financier.
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Rostovsocbank was a Russian commercial bank. It was established in 1989 and registered by the Central Bank of Russia in October 1990. The first commercial bank in the south of Russia was founded as a result of the commercialisation of the Rostov office of the USSR Zhilsocbank. In the 1990s, it used to be a major bank in the Rostov region with several branches in Rostov-on-Don and other cities such as Taganrog, Shakhty, Gukovo, and Donetsk.
Donskoy Narodny Bank was a Russian commercial bank. It was founded in 1992 as the Stanichny (Village) Commercial Bank (SCB) "Yegorlyk". Until 1998, it carried out its activities on the territory of Yegorlyksky District in Rostov Oblast. At the end of 1998, SCB “Yegorlyk” experienced financial difficulties and practically ceased operations. And after that, the Bank was acquired by new owners, among whom were the former employees and clients of the Gukovo branch of Rostovsocbank, which made a full refund to all clients and depositors in early 1998, despite the insolvency of the Rostovsocbank’s head office.
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