CBR: Banks from leading partner nations of Russia interested in opening branches in country

YEKATERINBURG. Feb 17 (Interfax) - Banks from leading friendly partner nations of Russia have expressed interested in opening branches in Russia, Central Bank of Russia (CBR) First Deputy Governor Vladimir Chistyukhin told reporters on the sidelines of the "Cybersecurity in Finance" Forum in the Urals.

"A number of our partners from friendly countries have expressed their wish to have an opportunity to carry out settlements and payments not only by creating subsidiaries in Russia, but also by opening their own branches. In some cases, it is more convenient for them operationally and in terms of compliance with banking regulations, because they can rely on the balance sheet of a large foreign company. At the same time this practice is habitual for them," Chistyukhin said.

These banks have both subsidiaries and branches in a number of other countries, he said.

"For us it [the opening of branches by foreign banks] is of fundamental importance in the context of payment and settlement operations," the official said.

The Central Bank supports the idea of opening branches of foreign banks in Russia, but with a limited range of operations, Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina said last week. She explained that the idea is to open branches that would carry out settlements and payments without attracting deposits from the public.