Central Bank of Russia will not postpone implementing differentiated buffers for capital adequacy for major banks; process to begin in 2028

MOSCOW. March 5 (Interfax) - The Central Bank of Russia does not plan to postpone implementing the differentiated buffers for capital adequacy for systemically important banks, and the regulator plans to begin the phased process in 2028, Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina said at the annual meeting of lending institutions with the Central Bank.

"I'll start with strengthening the capital base. This is a crucial task, and we see that banks are achieving it. The fact that growth in lending has become more moderate has allowed banks to increase their capital reserves in 2025. For the first time since 2022, capital adequacy has shown growth. Over the past year, it increased by 0.7 percentage points to 13.2%. The capital buffer is now at about 9 trillion rubles to the standards. This is a good reserve in case of stress. All banks have coped with the increase in buffers since the beginning of the year, and there will be two more stages of increasing buffers to target values in the next two years as per the previously established schedule. It should be said that most banks are already meeting them ahead of schedule. Therefore, it is simply a matter of maintaining capital reserves at the current level for them. Nevertheless, some banks will have to work hard to catch up. Meantime, I emphasize that banks are on track to meet the schedule while maintaining balanced lending growth according to our estimates," Nabiullina said.

The Central Bank is closely monitoring the situation and assessing the potential for lending in the economy, including taking into account regulatory plans in order to prevent the risk of a credit crunch, Nabiullina noted. The Central Bank plans to begin establishing differentiated buffers for capital for systemically important players after restoration of base buffers.

"This will tentatively take effect starting in 2028. I know that many banks would like to postpone the decision until 2030, citing the ongoing sanctions pressure and the need to recognize losses on blocked assets. However, we are convinced that implementing differentiated buffers, which we have discussed in detail for some time, is necessary to prevent systemic risks for major players. Meantime, we do not plan to implement the differentiated buffers all at once, as we will do so gradually, as with the current buffers. We will also discuss the schedule for implementing the buffers in detail with banks next year to ensure all the nuances are taken into account," Nabiullina added.