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demographics national programme, which was proposed by President Vladimir Putin in 2017 to encourage Russians to have more children. Previously Golikova, who is in charge of social policy in government, told RIA Novosti that in 2018 over RUB2bn discounted family mortgages have been granted. RUB5.9bn have been budgeted for the initiative in 2018, RUB9.2bn in 2019, and RUB11.5bn for 2020. The number of banks participating in the programme needs to quintuple by 2024. So far in Russia the biggest five banks account for eight out of ten rubles lent to home buyers, driving most of the mortgage segment that was up by over 80% in the first four months of this year.
Chinese banks are complying with the sanctions imposed by the US and the EU against Russia , Finanz.ru reported citing representative of the Central Bank of Russia in China Vladimir Danilov. Reportedly the Chinese banks are delaying transfers to Russian counterparts and sometimes deny the transfers altogether, according to Danilov. "The problem is a broad definition of the limitations on third countries by a number of Chinese banks," he noted, adding that even not directly sanctioned companies can be affected. Some banks are also facing difficulties servicing and opening correspondent accounts in China, the VP of Association of Banks of Russia (ABR) Anatoly Kozlachkov confirmed. Finanz.ru reminds that already back in 2015 the first deputy head of VTB Yury Solovyev complained of obstacles set by Chinese banks. According to CBR data 88% of export deals to China and 74% of imports of Chinese goods are carried out in US dollars. The share of rubles in bilateral trade is only at 3.8%, while yuan accounts for 8%.
The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) could allow the introduction of peer-to-peer insurance models in Russia , Vedomosti daily said on September 17 citing unnamed sources close to the regulator and the confirmation of the Russian Union of Insurers. P2P insurance operates from a pool of funds accumulated by private individuals, which is used to pay out compensations. Reportedly third party insurance companies would participate in such schemes. The potential peers would be motivated to participate in P2P schemes by regular repayments of parts of unclaimed insurance premiums. The CBR's motivation behind the model is providing the consumers with easily available insurance mechanisms for risks that could be overlooked by traditional insurers, such as cancellation of flights, risks for extreme sports, and similar.
The governor of the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) Elvira Nabiullina denied any danger to foreign currency deposits in Russian banks, claiming that paying those out in ruble is not considered in case of sanctions as it would undermine the trust in Russian banning system. In last week's interview to Bloomberg the head of the second-largest state bank VTB Andrei Kostin caused a mild panic, saying the CBR is prepared to possibly introduce limitations on foreign currency operations , provoking speculations that the central bank could forcibly convert FX deposits by clients into rubles. "We [the CBR] have not considered any mandatory conversion [of Fx to rubles], and didn't even have such thoughts," the CBR governor commented. "With each large bank we [the CBR] have designed a set of measures that will allow them with our [CBR] help to solve all problems and deliver on all obligations to the customers," Nabiullina said. She estimated that the banking sector had enough resources to pay off $87bn worth of foreign currency deposits. On Bloomberg's numbers 20% of Russia's personal and 33% of corporate deposits are held in foreign currencies, with the three largest retail
67 RUSSIA Country Report October 2018 www.intellinews.com