Page 74 - RusRPTNov22

to 30%.
The threat of expanding sanctions and e.g. increases in service fees for currency accounts have decreased the popularity of investment products and loans denominated in dollars and euros. Before the war, more than a quarter of the public's bank deposits were in foreign currency, in August the share was only 12%. The popularity of yuan-denominated deposits has apparently not increased very much. However, breaking away from Western currencies is difficult and expensive. In August, three quarters of new foreign currency loans were granted in still unfriendly currencies. The information has been collected from the publications of the Central Bank of Russia, as statistical information on the currency distribution of payments or loans is also no longer available.
Sber and VTB, Russia’s largest banks, took note of an increase in yuan purchases by retail customers and they expect this trend to continue.
"The number of yuan purchase transactions made by retail clients is on the rise. Many retail customers view the yuan as an alternative to US dollars and the euro," Sberbank told TASS.
Retail clients largely make cashless purchases of yuan and place it in their accounts, the bank said.
China’s currency has become the most purchased cashless form of money, VTB indicates. "The yuan has become the most popular foreign currency purchased by VTB Online users in the third quarter. This trend continued in October. As a result, the share of the yuan in the structure of non-cash purchases of foreign currency by the bank's clients today exceeds 80% by the volume of transactions," the bank’s press service informed.
According to VTB, the volume of non-cash yuan transactions increased multiple times in the third quarter compared to the first and second quarters. "The average amount of daily transactions in yuan in the third quarter of 2022 is ten times higher than the result of the second quarter of 2022. The average amount of a single transaction in September was about 20,000 yuan ($2,800), which is double that of New Year’s figures and six times higher than August’s values," the credit institution said.
VTB expects the yuan to continue cementing its status as the leader in cashless purchases until the end of the year from the standpoint of currency conversion transactions.
74 RUSSIA Country Report November 2022 www.intellinews.com