Russian banks with under 300 mln rubles equity decrease in number during Jan - CB
MOSCOW. Feb 21 (Interfax) - The number of Russian banks with equity below 300 million rubles decreased from 304 to 296 in January, Central Bank Deputy Chairman Mikhail Sukhov said at an M&A forum.
"According to latest counts, 296 banks have less than 300 million rubles, which is the threshold they are required to meet by 2015," Sukhov said.
The banks in question are still less efficient than major banks. "Their return on equity is almost six times lower than for larger banks, and return on assets is 3.7 times lower," he said.
The Central Bank will continue to pay heightened attention to these banks, regardless of whether they bolstered their capital in the last few months of 2011 or have kept equity for a lengthy period above the 180 million rubles lower threshold effective January 1, 2012.
Nearly 50 of the 296 banks have equity of more than 250 million rubles, Sukhov said.
The lower equity thresholds of 90 million rubles and 180 million rubles have made oversight easier, but they have not solved structural problems in the banking sector, Sukhov said.
"If the need really does arise to solve structural problems, then the new threshold needs to be much more than a few hundred million rubles. Okay, it would be inadvisable to alter the 300 million rubles in 2015. But in the context of future structural policy I think other solutions would also be possible that extend beyond 2015 and that we will discuss in the second half of this year," he said.
Sukhov later told reporters there were no plans to alter the 300 million rubles threshold by 2015. "It's another matter whether we need so many captive banks. This has to be discussed because it's not only an issue of oversight. From the point of view of oversight, 180 million rubles and 300 million rubles are normal figures," he said.
From the point of view of structural problems, it is necessary to decide whether those problems should be solved and, if so, should their solution be tied in with other minimal equity requirements, he said.
Sukhov said the Central Bank did not see any problems with capital adequacy at Russian banks in general.
"There's nothing tragic with adequacy and there won't be. Banking capital is what matters most, and major groups of banks, including the biggest ones, will have capital adequacy that is close to the norm," he said.
Sukhov said there didn't have to be surplus capital - it was enough just to have sufficient capital.
He said capital adequacy in he banking sector averaged at 14.7%. As of February 1, 2012, 11 of the top 30 banks had a capital adequacy ratio of more than 13%, and 19 were within the regulatory limit of not below 10%. The 19 banks had below 13%, or less than the level that starts to prompt bankers and the owners of banks to worry about capital.
"Banks like that will have to either go into the capital market or restructure their banking business. I don't think many owners will opt to sell assets, rather go restructure their business, transferring some assets to the non-banking sector, mutual funds and other intermediaries," Sukhov said.
He said Standard & Poor's shouldn't be frightened and could look at Russian as well as foreign experience.
S&P has estimated that 30 of Russia's biggest banks need recapitalization but are unable to improve their situation in the foreseeable future. The agency thinks most Russian commercial banks are undercapitalized due to their appetite for risk and weak diversification.
S&P thinks only a few of the top 30 banks have sufficient or above-sufficient capitalization. Fir the most part this is moderate or weak.