Moscow
The chairman of Russia’s Credit Bank of Moscow said on Tuesday uncertainty over the country’s banking system was affecting depositors, but the situation was under control.
Speaking at a banking conference, Vladimir Chubar said the bank was working to address any risk to liquidity from a potential outflow of deposits.
Russia’s banking sector is under scrutiny after two major private lenders, Otkritie Bank and B&N Bank, had to be rescued by the central bank in the space of a month. Market insiders say other private banks could fail, though officials and banking analysts say a sector-wide crisis is unlikely.
“Flows of information which are just pouring from various sources are obviously not easy for us,” Chubar said, referring to media reports and market talk about banks facing problems.
“It’s obvious they have an effect on depositors,” he said in a speech at the Fitch Ratings Annual Conference on Russia.
Credit Bank of Moscow is Russia’s ninth biggest bank by assets, according to an Interfax ranking of lenders.
Chubar said that in the weeks before the rescues of Otkritie Bank and B&N Bank he and his colleagues had to devote a lot of time to reassuring depositors.
“But somehow we are keeping the situation under control,” said Chubar. “There is no panic.” He said the bank had benefited to the extent that some people withdrawing deposits from the rescued banks had instead put their cash into Credit Bank of Moscow.
Turning to threats his bank faced, Chubar said these included “naturally the potential liquidity outflows which could happen against the backdrop of negative information. But we’re working, in a more or less calm mode.”
