UPDATE: Putin says Russia has enough banks to develop economy

(Adds details in headline, lede, second paragraph)

MOSCOW, Dec 14 (PRIME) -- Russia has enough banks for development of its economy at the current stage, President Vladimir Putin said at an annual press conference on Thursday.

He said that regulation of the banking sector is in the best interests of clients. “It is an extremely important thing to save clients from unsolvable problems in case of some global markets fluctuations, difficulties in the country.”

The Prosecutor General’s Office and other authorities control the central bank and have found no serious law violations, he said.

“I will not deny, from time to time I receive corresponding materials but they have not been confirmed yet,” Putin said. “And this is why I want first to assure you that it (control) is applied and no serious law violations connected with breaches of the current law are found in the operations of the central bank,” he said.

There is economic sense in independence of the central bank, Putin said.

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