Page 85 - RusRPTJun21

8.0 Financial & capital markets 8.1 Bank sector overview
Russian banks are on course to have a more profitable year than any time since the 2014 oil price shock and are already outperforming as the economy comes back to life.
In April, the retail lending acceleration continued lead by mortgages on the back of the state sponsored mortgage subsidy programme and growing unsecured loans. Corporate lending growth also accelerated.
Banks continued ramp up investments in OFZ to support the MinFin due to volatility on the market caused by the threat of new harsh US sanctions. However, now that largely symbolic sanctions were imposed on April 15 international investors are returning to the OFZ market and taking up some of the slack.
On the funding side, there was a significant increase in the population's funds, mainly associated with advance social payments due to the announced non-working days between the May holidays, and also increased placements public funds, mainly due to tax revenues and from placement OFZ.
85 RUSSIA Country Report June 2021 www.intellinews.com