Page 73 - RUSRptApr17

8.1.6 Banks specific issues
Russian state-owned retail bank Sberbank has temporarily cut mortgage rates to below 9%. That is well down on the 12% rate that the government has targeted as a desirable level and offered subsidies on any rate above that level until recently. Sberbank has temporarily reduced mortgage rates for apartments being built by certain developers to 8.4-8.9%. This assumes a 2-2.5% discount to the basic mortgage rate of 10.5%, part of which is subsidised by the respective developers (up to 1.5%), and part (up to 1%) by Sberbank, VTB Capital reports. These rates will be available until the end of May, and only selected developers are eligible, although Sberbank has indicated that there will be more than 200 participating companies across Russia. Interest rates have been following inflation down, which has been reduced to close to the Central Bank of Russia’s target rate of 4% in the first months of this year. The CBR cut rates to 9.75% in a surprise decision last month. “The news is positive for listed developers, and such a significant cut substantially increase Russians’ ability to take mortgages,” VTB Capital said in a note.
Money transfers from Russia to Ukraine via foreign payment systems have been banned by a law signed by Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, TASS reported on April 4, citing the official legal information portal of the Russian government. The decision last month of Russia’s largest state-owned bank Sberbank to accept documents of the separatist territories of East Ukraine has expanded the Russia-Ukraine rift further into the financial sphere . However, Moody's Investors Service said the damage from Ukrainian sanctions to Russian banks will be minimal due to low share of Ukrainian subsidiaries in total assets. Kyiv banned the money transfers to Russia by Russian payment systems and imposed sanctions on Russian banks , while Sberbank branches in the country were sabotaged by far-right activists leading to a hasty sale of its Ukrainian business . Now the amendments to the Law on the National Payment System passed by Putin prohibit cross-border transfers via any foreign payment system to countries that sanction Russian payment
73 RUSSIA Country Report April 2017 www.intellinews.com