Russia's Long and Winding Road to a more Efficient and Resilient Banking Sector

In the decade following the 1998 financial crisis Russia’s banking system grew much larger and stronger – indeed, growth rates were dangerously high – but even before the onset of the current global crisis it continued to play a limited role in intermediating savings and investment, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises. Moreover, despite important improvements, some weaknesses in prudential supervision remained, and the Russian banking sector continued to have too many very small banks doing little if any banking business. This paper discusses the policy imperatives in the short term, in the face of the ongoing economic crisis, and reforms that could be implemented over the longer term to improve the efficiency and resilience of the financial system and raise Russia’s potential growth rate. While the current crisis is painful for the banking sector as well as the broader economy, it may facilitate a restructuring of the system that will be positive in the long run, as well as new approaches to regulation that will make banking less crisis-prone.