Nabiullina: Russian banks have many capital reserves; need to start accumulating buffers, removing vulnerabilities

SOCHI. Sept 29 (Interfax) - The capital reserves of the Russian banking system are large, though the lending institutions already should start accumulating capital buffers and removing vulnerabilities, Russia's Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina said at the international banking conference forum in Sochi, as organized by the Association of Russian Banks.

"The margin of endurance needs replenishing as soon as the moment is right. We believe that this could already begin, as based on the profitability of banks; including starting to accumulate buffers and remove the vulnerabilities that the banks have," Nabiullina said at the conference.

Currency risks are among the vulnerabilities that many banks face.

"Meantime, we understand that foreign currency risks are currently different. There are foreign currency risks for friendly countries and unfriendly countries. We would like the share of unfriendly currencies, which is already a large portion, to decrease gradually, and the overall quality of currency risk management to improve," Nabiullina noted.

Russia's capital reserve in the banking system is 6 trillion rubles, Nabiullina added.