Russian banks’ capital adequacy at 12% – cbanker

MOSCOW, Mar 20 (PRIME) -- Capital adequacy of Russian banks stands at 12%, and the central bank sees no risks of easing the capital adequacy rule, Deputy Central Bank Chairman Mikhail Sukhov said at a banking forum Friday.

“The capital adequacy (of Russian banks) is at about 12%, which creates enough reserves for internal sources to cover the difficulties which the economy sees in reality,” Sukhov said.

Overdue loans may amount to up to 900 billion rubles in late 2015, Sukhov said. On February 1, loans in jeopardy totaled 2.205 trillion rubles, or 4.06% of the loan portfolios of banks.

Sukhov said that in current conditions banks must prioritize injecting parts of their net profit into capitals over dividend payments. “There are not so many external sources of capital. This is why profit allocation to additional capital is possible, it is important,” he said.

But the central bank will not prohibit banks from paying dividends, he said.

Many banks had a loss in January–March but this is too short a period to seriously hurt them, Sukhov said. “If this lasts for a short period, half a year or a year, there is nothing wrong with that, banks have their capital reserves.”

(59.8308 rubles – U.S. $1)

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