Capital requirement of 300 mln rubles not enough for bank sector reform - CBR official
TULA. Jan 20 (Interfax) - The minimum equity capital level of 300 million rubles for banks that will be set as of 2015 will not help structural reforms in the sector, the head of licensing and financial recovery of lending institutions at the Central Bank, Mikhail Sukhov said.
"Clearly, 300 million rubles is an additional opportunity for oversight, but these figures will not help to eliminate from the market banks that work in the economic interests of their owners - captive banks," Sukhov told reporters on Thursday, adding that this was his personal opinion, not the official position of the Central Bank.
"If we want to reform the banking sector, the figure must be far higher. I think that 2012 is the year when we can look at the situation in the area of business of these small banks," Sukhov said.
Russia had 304 banks with equity of less than 300 million rubles as of January 1, 2012, and in total they were 25.1 billion rubles short of this level, he said.
Banking sector reform requires that Russia have more banks that could compete on an equal footing in lending to Russia's biggest borrowers - the top 10 to 15 companies that form the main foundation of the budget, Sukhov said.
"Naturally, borrowers should not be restricted and should not be ordered to borrow money at Russian banks," he said, adding that no one is eliminating the free movement of capital.
However, the resources of banks should allow them to participate in syndications. Russia should have a wide circle of banks with the financial resources and reputation that could be promoted beyond the CIS, Sukhov said.
He said captive business in the Russian banking sector should disappear within five to seven years.