ACRA sees assets of Russian banks to grow 2% in 2017

MOSCOW, Feb 27 (PRIME) -- The Analytical Credit Rating Agency (ACRA) expects combined assets of Russian banks to grow 2% in 2017 to almost 81.95 trillion rubles mainly due to retail loans, the agency said in a research note published on Monday.

Mortgage will become the major growth driver, with all the retail segments expected to increase due to a low base effect and the impact from delayed demand. Provision of non-secured consumer loans will rise only 5–7% in 2017, but provision of car loans will increase 8–10% in the year and raise the demand for Russia–produced cars, ACRA said.

Provision of loans to large businesses will grow 6–8% due to inflation and involvement of large banks in financing of infrastructure projects. Crediting of small and medium-sized businesses is expected to restore, but the average annual dynamics in 2017–2020 will not be high, the agency said.

The share of bad loans will not fall below 14%, and the cost of risk may grow to 1% from 0.3% in 2017. But deposits of individuals with banks are expected to increase 9%, and deposits of companies may grow 12% in the year.

In 2016, the Russian banking system showed a rapid increase in the net profit to 1.1% of the average asset figure from 0.4% in 2015 due to a one-time dismissal of reserves against possible losses on corporate loans by some largest banks. Excluding the factor, return on assets would have reached only 0.8% given the banks’ combined net profit of about 654 billion rubles and a loss in December 2016, ACRA said.

(57.4762 rubles – U.S. $1)

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