Retail Banking Operations in January-August 2020

Sergey A. Zubov – Senior Researcher of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration, Candidate of Economic Sciences, Associate Professor (Moscow, Russia). Е-mail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Growth rates of the credit portfolio have notably decreased compared to the pre-pandemic period. This is due to a decline in demand for credits from the population and more stringent bank requirements to the borrowers. In the meantime, despite a reduction in the interest rates and imposition of a tax on bank deposits interest, banks have failed to ramp up retail deposits volumes. This was mainly due to the return of the part of population to the savings behavior pattern during the pandemic.

Key words: Russia’s banking sector, net income of banks, bank assets, bank liabilities, retail loans.