UPDATE: Chairwoman: Cbank sees Russian banks’ profit flat in 2020

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RECREATION HOUSE BOR, Moscow Region, Feb 13 (PRIME) -- The central bank expects Russian banks’ profit to be flat on the year in 2020, Chairwoman Elvira Nabiullina said on Thursday.

“In 2019, the banks demonstrated a record high net profit of over 1.7 trillion rubles… or an adjusted profit of around 1.3 billion rubles, which means a 12% return on capital… In 2020, (the profit) will remain at the 2019 level,” she said.

The quality of Russia’s unsecured consumer loans is satisfactory, the chairwoman also said.

“Growth of unsecured consumer loans is slowing down, we see it as a positive trend considering the sector’s potential risks… We will watch the dynamics of unsecured consumer lending closely and adjust our approaches if necessary… The quality of the loans is satisfactory yet, there is some worsening, but it is really small and does not raise our concerns.”

In October 2019, the central bank introduced measures to cap debt in unsecured consumer lending by launching markups to risk ratios.

Nabiullina said that the central bank wants to start introducing new regulatory measures twice a year, in April and in October.

The regulator also plans to introduce rules of financial products sales by banks.

Nabiullina also said that mortgage lending is becoming more affordable in Russia with interest rates of under 9%, and the rates may fall below 8% before 2024 set by President Vladimir Putin.

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