Page 90 - bneIntelliNews monthly country report Russia May 2024

while currency holdings remained nearly unchanged (-2 billion rubles in ruble equivalent).
The rise in ruble funds was primarily driven by term deposits, which increased by 710 billion rubles (+2.5%, with an estimated 200 billion rubles attributed to accrued interest). This trend is influenced by the maintenance of favorable deposit rates (14.7–14.8% in March).
The growth in funds on current accounts was more restrained (+184 billion rubles, +1.3%), likely due to a portion of funds flowing into deposits and expenditures during the holiday period.
Escrow account balances saw a moderate increase of 91 billion rubles (+1.7%) following near-zero dynamics in February (-0.2%). This growth was driven by increased mortgage issuances, with preliminary data indicating a faster influx of funds into escrow accounts, reaching 383 billion rubles after 273 billion rubles in February.
Substantial Increase in Government Funds in Banks
Government funds in banks experienced a significant increase of 1.4 trillion rubles (+12.9%), notably comprising 1.1 trillion rubles from the Federal Treasury and 0.4 trillion rubles from regional authorities, primarily due to large tax revenues. Repo transactions with the Federal Treasury amounting to 0.9 trillion rubles were replaced by unsecured deposits (+1.9 trillion rubles), freeing up a significant amount of liquid assets for banks.
Deposits from the Bank of Russia also saw a substantial rise (+1.7 trillion rubles, +55%): following the lifting of concessions on the net stable funding ratio (NSFR) from March 1, some banks are currently rectifying their ratios more through credits from the Bank of Russia secured by non-market collateral rather than through attracting long-term liabilities and accumulating liquid assets.
90 RUSSIA Country Report May 2024 www.intellinews.com