Page 85 - RusRPTFeb23

8.0 Financial & capital markets Main indicators of Russian bank sector
8.1 Bank sector overview
The Russian banking sector in November, according to RIA Rating, was characterised by an increase in assets in nominal terms. As in previous months, the main source of good asset dynamics is lending. According to analysts' estimates, November was the fifth consecutive month of growth in assets, after a period from March to June, when assets declined. The increase in assets in nominal terms in January-November 2022, according to RIA Rating experts, amounted to about + 5% against + 14.6% for the same period in 2021. The low growth rates in nominal terms in 2022 are the result of the strengthening of the ruble, the revaluation of a number of market assets and the negative dynamics in lending in March-May.
In November, the growth rate of retail lending in real terms increased relative to the result a month earlier. The volume of the retail loan portfolio increased by 1.2% over the month. This is the second best result in the last nine months (+1.6% was in September). Some acceleration of growth rates in November was due to a sharp increase in unsecured lending, while mortgage dynamics were approximately at the level of October. In general, the growth in retail lending on a sliding 12-month period, as of December 1, amounted to +9.8% against an increase of 22.1% as of December 1, 2021. It is also worth noting that growth rates picked up in November, although they had slowed down for eight months in a row before that.
The real growth rate of mortgages in October turned out to be quite high. The portfolio of issued housing loans, excluding securitization transactions, grew by +2.0% in November, which is only slightly less than the most successful months of late 2021 - early 2022 (then the increase was more than +2%). On a rolling 12-month period, as of December 1, the dynamics of mortgage lending amounted to +17.4%. It should be noted that most of the issued mortgages in November, according to the Bank of Russia, fall on market mortgages. However, subsidized mortgages grew at a faster rate in November, and in December (according to preliminary data) they further accelerated. In general, it can be stated that the real boom is still visible in the mortgage market.
85 RUSSIA Country Report February 2023 www.intellinews.com