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Sixteen% remain registered as Russian holdings in the United States, and the remaining 39%, we believe, are being hidden in Belgium and the Cayman Islands. With US-Russia tensions increasing, we would not be surprised by further such “offshoring” of Russian Treasuries in the coming months,” the blog concluded.
2.6 Russia’s CBR closing 100 banks a year
Russia’s CBR pulls the license from Central European Bank, total number of banks 518 in August
The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) pulled yet another license this week bring the total number of banks operating in Russia down to 518 as of the start of August.
The central bank has been on a five year campaign to clean up the banking sector by closing down the small and dodgy banks, most of, which are either glorified treasury operations for industrial groups or out and out scams designed or money chutes to whisk cash offshore undetected.
Since being appointed the governor of the CBR in June 2013, has overseen the revolution in the sector. As the chart shows the number of banks has fallen very steadily from the day she took over as governor of the central bank starting with 958 in June 2013 to 518 as of August 1 this year.
She has closed about one bank every three days during this time but the process became harder last summer when she close the first too-big-to-fail commercial banks, the so-called Garden Ring banks, that nearly caused a banking crisis and has cost the state trillions of rubles in rescue money.
This week the CBR close the Central European Bank based in Chita, which was the 322 biggest bank in Russia by assets. The CBR pulled its license because it was a “real threat to the interests of creditors and investors.”
The small banks are too small to do much traditional banking business and most eke out a living in niches taking advantage of their ability to borrow money cheaply on the interbank market than companies can raise from bank loans.
The Central European Bank business was main issuing of guarantees for corporate clients, according to the CBR, and had built up a total of RUB6.5bn
14 RUSSIA Country Report September 2018 www.intellinews.com