Finance Ministry, CBR, DIA favor extending insurance of SME deposits to all banks
MOSCOW. May 25 (Interfax) - The Finance Ministry, Central Bank of Russia (CBR) and Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA) support the idea of insuring the deposits of small and medium enterprises (SME), but believe it makes sense to extend it to all banks, regardless of what kind of license they have.
"We support the idea [of insuring SME deposits] in general, taking into account that there will be the corresponding financing," DIA chief executive Yury Isayev said at a meeting of a working group in the State Duma.
"We're proceeding from the assumption that any exclusions here are dangerous. We would hold the position that if we're introducing the norm of SME deposit insurance, then it's better to introduce it for all banks, not only those with a basic license, but also with a universal license, because these nuances distort the system a little. Therefore, our position is that we introduce, then immediately for all banks," Isayev said.
Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseyev said that the ministry is also in favour of expanding deposit insurance to SME deposits in all banks up to the amount of 1.4 million rubles.
CBR deputy chairman Vasily Pozdyshev said that the CBR "supports the idea of expanding the mechanism to small businesses."
"The extension of the mechanism of insurance only to one category of banks given the condition that all banks will pay appeals less to us. In other words, if all banks will contribute more to the Deposit Insurance Fund in order to ensure the security of the funds of small businesses in credit institutions, it will be more right to extend the insurance mechanism to the whole banking system, not only to a separate segment of it," Pozdyshev said.
The total amount of money that SME keep in banks is slightly more than 3 trillion rubles, he said. Of this, almost 2 trillion rubles are kept in systemically important banks, 1 trillion rubles in banks with capital of more than 1 billion rubles, and slightly less than 100 billion rubles in banks that are possible candidates for receiving a basic license.
"Based on these figures and the basic points that I made, it is necessary to balance this mechanism and not upset the competitive field. And it is more right to extend the mechanism to all credit institutions," Pozdyshev said.