Page 53 - bne IntelliNews Russia OUTLOOK 2025

"Actual profits of the sector (less about RUB44bn ($481.3mn) received from Russian subsidiary banks) stood at 306bn. This is RUB81bn ($885.8mn) or 36% higher than the June result (RUB225bn ($2.5bn), with the adjustment for redistribution of earnings within the banking group totalling about RUB120bn ($1.3bn)," the CBR said.
The actual profit of the sector (excluding approximately RUBR44bn rubles in dividends received from Russian subsidiary banks) amounted to RUB306bn. The return on equity increased to 24.6% from 17.8%.
The number of profitable banks rose to 250 from 248 in June, and their share of the total number of banks rose to approximately 79% from 78%. The overall share of profitable banks in the sector's assets has remained at 98% since the beginning of the year.
Growth of the consumer loans portfolio of Russian banks slowed down to 1.4% in July against 2% in May and June of this year but the pace of consumer lending is still rather high, the CBR said.
"Consumer lending geared down in July to +1.4 from 2% in May-June. This is associated with the falling demand for loans because they became more expensive and with the volume offer reduction by banks because of toughened macro-prudential regulation since July 1, 2024," the regulator said. "Nevertheless, the consumer lending growth rate is still rather high. The segment of credit cards, where rates were always high and therefore not so sensitive to key rate growth, continues accounting for a significant volume of disbursements," the CBR added.
The portfolio of corporate loans of Russian banks climbed to RUB80.7 trillion ($882.8bn) and showed growth of 2.3% or RUB1.8 trillion ($19.7bn) in July 2024, the CBR said.
"A rise in corporate and consumer lending is another driver of inflation. Despite double-digit interest rates, businesses continue to borrow. In the first 10 months of 2024, Russia’s total corporate loan portfolio (including bonds) was up 16.4%. Taking this into account, the Central Bank has revised upward its forecast for the growth rate of the banking sector's loans to business," says Prokopenko.
53 Russia OUTLOOK 2025 www.intellinews.com