Deposits of individuals in Russia

Main article: Banks in Russia

Bank accounts of Russians abroad

Main article: Bank accounts of Russians abroad

Bank secrecy in Russia

• Bank secrecy in Russia

2024: Growth of ruble deposits by 30% over the year to 46.4 trillion rubles

Deposits of the population of the Russian Federation by the beginning of May 2024 reached a record level of 46.4 trillion rubles and these are only ruble deposits.

At least another 4.1 trillion in ruble terms of foreign currency deposits in Russian banks and another 16.7 trillion rubles of cash outside the cash desk of the banking system, of which 15.7 trillion rubles are estimated to be in the hands of the population.

Accordingly, over 66.2 trillion rubles of monetary assets are concentrated within the Russian banking system. All this without taking into account foreign cash currency, foreign currency deposits outside Russian banks and cryptocurrencies.

As for ruble deposits, the growth rate is incredible - 30.8% at face value for the year and this is the maximum rate since May 2011.

From 2010 to 2019, the average annual increase in ruble deposits (at face value), according to Spydell Finance calculations, was 16.5%. In this range, there were two periods of high intensity: from 2010 to 2013 with an average annual increase of 25.6% and from 2017 to 2019 with an increase of only 11.4%.

Since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, ruble deposits have grown by exactly 18 trillion rubles. For comparison, from the beginning of the founding of the Russian banking system until September 2008, the accumulated increase in deposits was only 5.1 trillion. From December 09 to February 22 (more than 12 years), deposits increased by 22.8 trillion (about 150 billion per month), and over the past year at once + 9 trillion (750 billion per month).

Taking into account inflation (in real terms), the increase in ruble deposits for the year amounted to 21.4% - the maximum since Apr. 11. By historical standards, the current momentum is very strong, because from 2010 to 2019 the average annual growth was only 9.1%, where from 2010 to 2013 deposits grew by an average of 17.5% per year, and from 2017 to 2019 about 8% per year.

In the modern history of the Russian banking system, there were three phases of compression of household deposits: in the crisis of 2008-2009 with a reduction of 26% in real terms, in the crisis of 2015-2016 with a decrease of 17% and in the crisis of 2022 - a reduction of 12%.

The stagnation phase of 2014-2016 was overcome only at the beginning of 2017, there was also a stagnation phase from 2020 to 2022, and from February 23 the average annual increase is more than 20%, which is 2.3 times higher than the average historical pace.

2023

Growth of deposits of individuals to a record 41.2 trillion rubles

Deposits of individuals in Russia are growing at a record pace - 9.4 trillion in 2023 against 2-2.5 trillion rubles, which were observed before the conflict in Ukraine.

At the beginning of January 2024, deposits of individuals amount to 41.2 trillion compared to 32.8 trillion in January 23 and 27.8 trillion in January 22, i.e. over two years, deposits increased by 13.4 trillion rubles or almost 1.5 times (according to the Bank of Russia).

Source: Spydell Finance

Sberbank's share in the deposit market has become minimal in 15 years

According to statistics from the Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA), in 2023 the inflow of funds from the population to Sberbank turned out to be a record and amounted to 23.5%, citizens' deposits reached 22.6 trillion rubles. However, the share of the credit institution in the population deposit market decreased to 42.8%, which was the lowest value in the last 15 years. Such figures were published in mid-February 2024. Read more here.

Increase in the number of deposits of 3-10 million rubles by 40%

The total amount of funds subject to insurance on bank deposits in Russia by January 1, 2024 reached 60 trillion rubles, which is 21.1% more than a year earlier. Such dynamics became the highest in 13 years. This was reported in the state corporation "Deposit Insurance Agency" (DIA) on February 13, 2024.

According to the DIA, in the structure of deposits of individuals in Russian banks, deposits in the amount of 3 to 10 million rubles showed the greatest growth in 2023, an increase of 39.9% in amount and 37% in number of depositors.

source = Kommersant

The volume of deposits to 1 million rubles at the end of 2023 increased by 9.7%, and by the number of depositors - by 4.7%. Deposits over 10 million rubles increased by 30.2% in amount and by 35.5% in number of depositors. The average size of the depositor's funds placed in one bank amounted to 324,000 rubles, according to the DIA data. The state corporation also pointed to an increase in the volume of insured deposits:

• population - by 19.7% - up to 44.86 trillion rubles;
• on escrow accounts - by 38.5% - up to 5.59 trillion rubles;
• funds in the accounts of individual entrepreneurs - by 34.1% - up to 2.11 trillion rubles.

The share of household deposits in foreign currency in 2023 decreased by 2.2 percentage points - from 10.6% to 8.4%. Cumulatively, since the beginning of 2022, it has decreased by 11.5 percentage points.

The main inflow of funds fell on deposits for up to 1 year, at which banks offered the most attractive rates - they increased over the year by 7.9 percentage points, to 48.1%. The share of funds in current accounts in the total volume of household deposits decreased by 3.3 percentage points, to 34.8%. The market share of the 30 largest banks in terms of attracted deposits in 2023 increased by 1.1 percentage points and amounted to 94.4%.

As emphasized in the DIA, the limits of insurance compensation of 1.4 million and 10 million rubles in force by February 2024 provided full protection for 98% of depositors of existing banks.^[1]

Regions leading in the size of bank deposits named

As of January 1, 2024, the volume of household deposits in Russian banks is 50.7 trillion rubles, which is almost 10 trillion rubles more than a year earlier. Thus, the increase on an annualized basis was approximately 25%. In terms of one resident of Russia, the volume of deposits in banks averages 346.6 thousand rubles. This is stated in the statistical report of the Central Bank, published on February 5, 2024.

According to RIA Novosti, referring to the data of the Central Bank, Moscow became the leader in terms of the size of bank deposits in 2023, where on average 1.4 million rubles per person. In second place is St. Petersburg with an indicator of 679 thousand rubles. Such a significant gap is due to the fact that in the capital there is a maximum concentration of super-rich Russians. The Nenets Autonomous Okrug closes the top three with a result of 648 thousand rubles on average for each resident of the region.

𝓲

Unsplash

The top ten of the rating also includes the Magadan Region, the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, Kamchatka Territory, the Murmansk Region, the Sakhalin Region, the Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous Okrug - Ugra and the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. In these regions, the size of deposits in banks on average per capita varies from 392 thousand rubles to 538 thousand rubles.

The study also says that the least money on bank deposits is stored in the Republic of Ingushetia - about 22.1 thousand rubles per person. In second place in this anti-rating is the Chechen Republic - 27.6 thousand rubles, and closes the three Republic of Dagestan with 45 thousand rubles. This is followed by the Karachay-Cherkess Republic (59.9 thousand rubles), the Kabardino-Balkar Republic (65.2 thousand rubles), the Republic of Tuva (82.9 thousand rubles), the Republic of Kalmykia (86.7 thousand rubles), Adygea (95 thousand rubles), the Republic of Altai (98.4 thousand rubles) and the Republic of Crimea (119.2 thousand rubles). In general, in Russia, the leader and the closing region have an average volume of deposits per inhabitant differs by 61 times.^[2]

Reduction of foreign currency deposits of individuals to 42 billion rubles - the minimum since 2008

In Russian banks, the funding structure has changed significantly over the past two years, Spydell Finance wrote.

In 2021, the average share of customer funds in foreign currency was 25.3%, in 2022 it decreased to 18.2%, in 2023 - 14.3% and a new minimum by January 2024 - only 12.9%. There has not been such a low share of foreign currency deposits in at least the last 20 years.

In fact, the trend is positive and this is the process of "growing up" of the banking system, because usually only in developing countries there is a high share of funding in foreign currency, while world practice is that national banks have dominant funding in the national currency - so in the USA and Europe.

Western sanctions made it impossible for Russian banks to effectively and uninterrupted funding on the interbank market with foreign counterparties. Consequently, the inability to manage the currency position forced Russian banks to directly or indirectly abandon the practice of raising funds in foreign currency.

Now Russian banks have 117 billion (at least since 2012) corporate deposits in foreign currency, compared with 175 billion before the SVO and 195 billion at its peak in 2014.

Foreign currency deposits of individuals amount to 42 billion (at least since 2008) vs 95 billion before the SVO (this level has remained practically unchanged since 2014). A significant part of deposits of individuals was withdrawn to foreign banks.

The share of euros and dollars decreased more significantly, since funding in yuan is included in foreign currency deposits. The Bank of Russia does not provide historical ranks of the currency structure, but according to the latest data, about half of the deposits of legal entities in yuan.

However, safe funding channels could not be built with any country, even with China, Turkey or the UAE due to the risks of secondary sanctions.

In general, the expansion phase of foreign currency deposits 1995-2014 is already in the past, consolidation 2015-2021 is also history, now a downward trend. However, as a rule, foreign currency deposits only change jurisdiction, and are not converted into rubles.

2022

Russians reduced savings on "long" deposits to a minimum in 10 years

By January 1, 2023, Russians kept about 7.92 trillion rubles on long-term deposits, which was the minimum over the past 10 years. This is evidenced by the data of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, which were published in early April 2023.

As RBC writes with reference to the materials of the regulator, in 2022 the volume of savings of citizens on deposits for a period of one year decreased by 30.4%, to 3.45 trillion rubles. A greater drop was recorded in foreign currency deposits - at the end of 2022 in ruble terms, they decreased by 62.4%, to 1.18 trillion rubles. Long deposits in Russian currency sank by 24.3%, to 6.74 trillion rubles. Since the beginning of the pandemic, the share of long-term deposits in retail liabilities of banks has halved, to 21.6% as of January 1, 2023.

Experts interviewed by the publication identified two factors that influenced the behavior of depositors. First, the money was withdrawn due to economic instability and alarming expectations. Secondly, banks in 2022 they began to offer more profitable rates on short deposits with terms of up to six months, which attracted customers. According to Mikhail Doronkin, director of the NKR rating agency, many Russians early closed "long" deposits in favor of "short." After that, customers did not return to long-term deposits due to growing uncertainty, the expert added.

According to independent analyst Andrei Barkhota, to increase the share of long-term deposits, at least two prerequisites are needed - "geopolitical de-escalation and maintaining the real profitability of deposits over one year above 0 and above the profitability of short deposits."

In the fall of 2022, the Central Bank announced the introduction of a new tool for depositors - irrevocable deposits, which in theory should be more profitable for citizens. By the beginning of April 2023, the regulator still decided on the details of this product, but admitted that people would still have to leave the option of withdrawing money in extreme cases, the newspaper notes.^[3]

The total foreign exchange assets of Russians reached a record $300 billion

Foreign exchange assets owned by Russian households reached an all-time high - over $300 billion for all types of assets (deposits, cash, shares, bonds, investments in funds), which is 16% higher than December 2021.

Devalutization may be happening, but somehow not there at all, the Spydell Finance channel noted. Despite the blocking of foreign assets, infrastructure risks, unacceptable conditions for holding foreign currency assets and an increase in the toxicity effect of base currencies (dollar and euro), flight into foreign assets continues with incredible force.

The widely announced devaluation occurs in foreign currency accounts in Russian banks for natural reasons - the infrastructure in yuan is expanding very slowly and weakly, and the conditions for euros and dollar accounts are unacceptable.

Since March 2022, foreign currency deposits in foreign banks owned by Russian households have grown by almost $70 billion. For the entire period until December 2021, the accumulated declared foreign currency accounts in foreign banks amounted to only 30 billion, i.e. less than a year increased 3.3 times!

Since March 2022, Russian banks have lost almost 40% of foreign currency deposits or more than $33 billion.

The scale of the flight is substantial. 70 billion withdrawals to foreign banks - this is almost 80% of the accumulated foreign currency deposits in Russian banks for 30 years, which were before the SVO! In December 2022, foreign currency accounts in foreign banks equaled the amount of cash in foreign currency in the hands of the population.

Foreign currency assets excluding deposits with foreign banks decreased to $200 billion (minus 12% for the year), where the main contribution was made by a decrease in foreign shares and foreign currency deposits with Russian banks.

There is no answer to the question of which currency deposits in foreign banks were distributed. Probably the main direction is the UAE.

Resumption of growth in the volume of deposits of individuals

Source: Spydell Finance

The share of foreign currency deposits within the Russian Federation dropped to the level of 2007

The share of foreign currency deposits of Russians in June 2022 dropped to 11.5% - the lowest since 2007.

Funds of Russians in foreign currency in banks decreased in July by $3 billion or 156 billion in ruble equivalent. This is 15 times more than in June. The Central Bank linked this to the banks' policy of devaluation and increased demand for foreign currency during the holiday season.

Structure of deposits by term

The rise of rates at the beginning of Russia's special operation in Ukraine and their sharp decline

2021: Inflation exceeds deposit rates

Main article: Inflation in Russia

2020

Sberbank's share in the deposit market reached a maximum in three years - 45.4%

Sberbank's share in the deposit market in 2020 reached a maximum in three years - 45.4%. In 2019, the indicator was measured at 43.8%. This is evidenced by the data of the credit institution itself. In the market for attracting funds from legal entities, Sberbank estimates its share at 22.8% at the end of 2020. A year earlier, it was 22%.

Record low deposit rates in 2020 led to a large-scale outflow of 1.68 trillion rubles, Izvestia writes, citing data from the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. If as of January 1, 2020 the volume of deposits of individuals in banks amounted to 22.88 trillion rubles, then as of January 1, 2021 - 21.2 trillion rubles.

For 2020, the average maximum rate on ruble deposits fell by 1.53 percentage points, to 4.49% per annum. According to the regulator, the volume of funds in the current accounts of individuals in 2020 increased by 4.1 trillion rubles, to 11.64 trillion rubles.

Sberbank's share in the deposit market reached a maximum in three years - 45.4%, in 2019 the figure was 43.8%

In 2020, there was a tendency to redistribute citizens' savings from deposits to savings accounts: the deposit portfolio decreased by 34%, and savings accounts - increased by 50%, noted in Post Bank"." Another market trend was the decline in the planning horizon of customers who, in conditions of uncertainty, sought to keep money "at hand," told in. VTB According to Novikombank"," the volume of deposits of individuals increased by 19%. In "," the Absolut Banke average deposit size increased over the year due to representatives of the private segment, as well as the share of online registration from 5-7% to 30%. In addition to the growing demand for securities, gold, mutual funds and other instruments in banks, they record an increase in funds in escrow accounts for the acquisition of real estate.

According to Yevgeny Shitikov, director of retail products at Дом.рф Bank, on term deposits, the share of prolongations fell by an average of 10-15% due to a historical decrease in the key rate and the profitability of deposits. Throughout the year, an increase in balances on savings and card accounts of customers was recorded, he added.^[4][5]

For 10 months, Russians seized 1.5 trillion rubles from ruble and foreign currency bank accounts and deposits.

The volume of deposits decreased in June to 22.28 trillion rubles

Russians continue to get rid of deposits in banks amid rate cuts that have gone below 5% and are updating historical lows.

At the end of June 2020, deposits of individuals in the banking system decreased by another 104 billion rubles, the Central Bank of the Russian   Federation said on July 17. As of July 1, their volume was 22.284 trillion rubles.

The real outflow, however, could be even higher: the Central Bank figure takes into account both ruble and foreign exchange deposits. At the same time, the latter in terms of the exchange rate should have increased due to the weakening of the ruble: in June, the dollar rose from 69.92 to 71.28 rubles, and the euro - from 77.9 to 80 rubles.

Since the beginning of 2020, 594 billion rubles of deposits of individuals have leaked from the banking system, it follows from the statistics of the central bank. More than half of this amount was provided by the outflow of foreign currency deposits - a record for the entire time available data of the regulator (7.5 billion dollars in January-May).

In general, household funds in banks are increasing, but this is due to current account balances: their volume in June 2020 soared by 709 billion rubles.

However, more than a third of this amount is not a real inflow of new client money, but an infusion from the state, the Central Bank notes. In June, individuals received 290 billion rubles in the form of payments to support families with children. Another 68 billion rubles were replenished with exrow accounts, the total volume of which reached 420 billion rubles, or 1.3% of the funds of individuals in banks.

Retail customers do not seek to open deposits and get rid of deposits that expire, preferring to go into cash or leave money in current and card accounts.

Russians took deposits worth 315 billion rubles from banks in March

According to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, in March 2020, Russians took deposits worth 315 billion rubles from banks. The decrease in the volume of deposits amounted to 1% excluding currency revaluation, mainly withdrew money in foreign currency, at that time ruble deposits were stable.

At the end of January-March 2020, deposits of individuals without exchange rate revaluation decreased by 1.7%. This figure as of April 1, 2020 amounted to 31.466 trillion rubles.

Russians in March took 315 billion rubles from deposits in the bank

The reduction fell on the third week of the month, when people actively made purchases in case of self-isolation due to COVID-19, and some large depositors made large deferred purchases (cars, household appliances) in anticipation of price increases, the Bank of Russia notes.

Basically, the outflow of funds of the population was felt by large banks (1.6%), but not those that are included in the list of systemically significant - the deposit base of the 11 largest organizations decreased by only 0.8%. Earlier, the Central Bank reported an acceleration in the outflow of deposits to 2%.

Despite the fact that by the end of March the situation had normalized, which is associated with a decrease in the activity of the population against the background of the introduction of a self-isolation regime and wage payments, the regulator admits an additional decrease in deposits of individuals, due to the fact that some people are forced to spend savings while at home, without the opportunity to receive income

Deposits of legal entities in March 2020 increased by 625 billion rubles (or 2.1%), despite the traditional payment of taxes by companies. The increase in deposits of legal entities in systemically important credit institutions for the month amounted to 2.6%, in other large banks - 0.9%. For the first quarter, deposits of legal entities excluding currency revaluation increased by 3.2%.

The share of foreign currency accounts in March 2020 increased against the background of the weakening of the ruble exchange rate to 35.7% (from 33.3%) among organizations and 22.1% (from 20.5%) among the population.^[6]

55.3% of deposits are open in the amount of more than 1 million rubles

The share of deposits of Russians in the amount of over one million rubles as of January 1, 2020 amounted to 55.3% of the total amount of deposits in the banking system, follows from the materials of the  Deposit Insurance Agency.

In 2018, this amount was 54.8%. The income from these deposits will fall under the 13% tax introduced in Russia in March 2020.

There may be more potential payers if they split deposits by several in the amount of less than 1 million rubles. The authorities stated that the new tax would affect only 1% of depositors.

2019

Transfer of deposits to the stock market

Private investors are gradually conquering the Russian stock market. The number of unique clients on the Moscow Exchange in September 2019 exceeded 3 million people, and the balances on their accounts exceed 1 trillion rubles. Attractive investment conditions and simplified identification contribute to this. A significant part of investors behave quite conservatively, preferring debt securities.

Drying up of deposit growth

The flow of money from the population to the accounts of Russian banks dried up sharply, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation said in mid-June 2019. At the end of the month, the total volume of deposits of individuals did not grow, but decreased by 0.1% (28.8 billion rubles).

Losses were primarily suffered by large banks from the top 20, which the Central Bank classifies as systemically important credit institutions.

The reason for the decrease in the inflow of deposits is a drop in income for the population, which does not leave people with the opportunity to save.

2018: 2.5% of the population's income was transferred to deposits. At least 20 years

At the end of 2018, Russians sent only 2.5% of their income to savings - at least in more than 20 years, although a year ago they could afford to "postpone" three times more (8.5%).

Although the Central Bank estimated the inflow of money for retail deposits at 1.7 trillion rubles, in fact, two-thirds of this amount - 1.1 trillion - fell on the capitalization of interest, that is, the money that banks themselves accrued to depositor clients.

Only 300 billion rubles have appeared in the system of new money of the population. This is the lowest indicator in 4 years, which is three times lower than the figure for 2017, and half as much - than in 2016, Alfa Bank has calculated.

2012

Growth of the average maximum rate in rubles to 10.15%

The increase in deposit rates usually indicates that banks need funds that they cannot find in other ways, for example, through loans or the sale of debt. During the 2008-2009 financial crisis, deposit yields at times exceeded 20 percent.

The average maximum deposit rate in rubles the top ten banks Russia in the final decade of July 2012 amounted to 10.15 percent per annum, an increase of 0.18 percentage points compared to the previous ten-day period.

The figure is the highest in the last 15 months. The last time at such a high level was in early April 2010. Since the beginning of 2012, it has grown by 0.74 percentage points.

The list of banks monitored by the Central Bank includes:

• Sberbank,
• VTB24,
• BM-Bank Russia,
• Raiffeisen Bank,
• Gazprombank,
• Rosbank,
• Alfa-Bank,
• Uralsib,
• Promsvyazbank and
• Rosselkhozbank.

Monitoring is carried out by the banking supervision department based on information posted on the websites of these banks.

In the Russian Federation, income at a rate above 13% is taxed at 35%.

Central Bank gets the right to limit the maximum rate on deposits

The Central Bank of Russia had the opportunity to limit rates, preventing their too rapid growth, until mid-2007. Then the regulator was deprived of these powers, but received them again in the fall of 2008 as an anti-crisis measure, which worked until the end of 2010.

In August 2012, it became known that the right of the Bank of Russia to limit the amount of deposit rates set by credit institutions will become permanent, although it was previously introduced as an anti-crisis measure. This was stated by Russian Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev^[7].

Russian banks, which are struggling with liquidity due to the global financial crisis, are trying to raise funds from the population at the expense of high rates. This was especially evident in 2008-2009, when at a certain point the yield on deposits reached 20 percent per annum.

In mid-2012, rates began to gradually rise again. In the last decade of July 2012, the average maximum rate in the 10 largest banks in Russia exceeded 10 percent for the first time since the spring of 2010. At the same time, the Central Bank recommends to all banks, regardless of their size, that the average level of return on deposits does not exceed the above indicator.

Notes