Cbank: Non-resident share of OFZ bond market falls to 24.4% Nov 1

MOSCOW, Nov 15 (PRIME) -- The share of non-residents on the Russian OFZ government bond market decreased to 24.4% as of November 1 from 25.2% as of October 1, Yelizaveta Danilova, a department head at the central bank, told reporters Thursday.

“The situation on the OFZ market has been quite stable in recent weeks, withdrawals continued, but as in October – quite gradual. If we speak about the share of foreign depositors in National Settlement Depository, it amounted to 24.4% as of November 1,” she said.

The situation on the financial market is stable despite the oil price reduction, she also said.

Danilova also said the central bank may further tighten regulation of mark-ups to loan risk ratios in case of a high growth of consumer lending in Russia.

“Credit quality has recently been very good if you look at reports and portfolios of banks and if you look at the behavior of individual loans. But we explain this by the fact that the rates have decreased steadily. But we have already seen in the cash loan segment that several quarters in a row, the rates have been stable, and we also see on credit cards that they have ceased to decline strongly,” she said.

“If the trend changes and a rapid growth of lending continues, the quality may worsen quite quickly. That’s why we are really worried and assess efficiency of the measures taken.

“If necessary, we will consider feasibility of revision, some further tightening (of mark-ups to risk ratios) if we see a big loan growth,” she said.

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