Page 96 - RusRPTMay21

Loan restructuring continues at a moderate pace. In March, banks restructured debts of SMEs in the amount of about RUB23bn against RUB16bn in February and RUB14bn in January).
Retail restructuring remained at the pro last month of about RUB19bn.
Data on the restructuring of loans by large companies for March is not available yet.
The total volume of restructuring loans issued since March 2020 amounted to about RUB7.4 trillion or 11% of the portfolio.
8.1.5 Liquidity, NIMs & CARs
RUB liquidity remains on a strong footing: the CBR liquidity indicator printed RUB 1.8tn on average in March and approximately RUB 1.4tn in April.
The April decline happened due to banks over-averaging prior to the expected CBR hike. The daily average RUONIA-key rate spread went up from -25bp in February to -14bp in March and was around the same figure in April. The 3M MosPrime spread elevated slightly in March (from 60 to 64bp) and later surged in April to 80+bp on average, also on the back of hike expectations.
Given that further CBR hikes are widely expected, it is likely that the 3M MosPrime spread to the key rate will stay noticeably above the 50-60bp level which we see as fundamentally justified when the policy rate is expected to stay flat.
The Treasury continued actively placing money into the banking system. The average indebtness to the Treasury was RUB 3.7tn in February, RUB 4.5tn in March and RUB 5.5tn in April. It has recently reached an all-time high of RUB 6.1tn, of which RUB 5.0tn (also a historical maximum) came from regular operations: deposits (including those with the central counterparty), repo and swaps. Treasury operations were a major factor behind the improvement in RUB liquidity and we expect them to continue to play a crucial role.
The total volume of ruble-denominated liquid assets of the banking sector (cash, claims on the CBR and non-pledged market collateral) decreased in March by RUB0.2 trillion to RUB15.4 trillion, as part of the securities was pledged under the repo with the Federal Treasury.
At the same time, the volume of liquidity is at a fairly comfortable level and by one third it covers the total funds of clients in. In addition to liquidity banks can raise funds from the Bank of Russia secured by non-marketable assets. As of the end of March the volume of such assets, included in the “soft collateral” amounted to RUB4.6 trillion.
The volume of liquid assets of credit institutions in foreign currency increased by $0.3bn to $52.7bn (including due to liquidity placements in foreign parent banks). This is well above the 2020 average.
96 RUSSIA Country Report May 2021 www.intellinews.com