Financiers appreciated the work of Elvira Nabiullina: the head of the Central Bank celebrates her anniversary

Chairman of the Bank of Russia Elvira Nabiullina is celebrating her 60th birthday. The only head of the regulator whose brooches attract as much attention as the decision on the key rate. She was born in 1963 in Ufa and graduated from the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University with honors. During her career, Nabiullina worked both as the head of the Ministry of Economic Development and as an adviser to the president. However, all the main criticism and main praise for her activities came during the years of management of the Bank of Russia. Experts interviewed by MK assessed the work of the regulator under the leadership of Elvira Nabiullina.

Mikhail Belyaev, financial analyst, candidate of economic sciences:

“Elvira Nabiullina’s asset should undoubtedly include a policy of information openness. At regular press conferences, a detailed explanation of the decisions taken is given. Even if the argument may be debatable, it becomes the object of coverage and discussion. True, the speeches of the head of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and her deputies are often oversaturated with special terms that make it difficult for non-specialists to understand.

The work of Nabiullina’s team to improve the health of the banking community by revoking licenses from unsustainable banks and organizations carrying out dubious transactions is undoubtedly assessed positively. In the course of supervisory activities, the Bank of Russia not only resorted to revoking licenses, but also carried out reorganization and support measures in relation to individual banks. As a result, the banking sector has become significantly more resilient and transparent.

Considerable attention was paid to the payment system, in particular, to the introduction of the Faster Payment System (FPS) and the Mir payment card, which replaced Visa and Mastercard in the country that had left as a result of sanctions.

In organizational terms, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and the Federal Service for Financial Markets (FSFM) merged, which made it possible to create a single body regulating all components and aspects of the country’s financial market. The Central Bank also began to act as a mega-regulator.

The leadership of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation acted promptly and adequately in critical situations, stopping the development of negative trends for the entire economy. For example, in March 2022, after the introduction of strict anti-Russian sanctions in the financial sector.

At the same time, in its activities, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation is excessively limited to the monetary sphere, not paying attention to the real sector of the economy. Whereas in economically developed countries, the functions of central banks include participation in the regulation of economic processes using the monetary levers available to them in accordance with the goals and objectives formulated by the Cabinet of Ministers.

In addition, decisions in the field of monetary policy are predominantly based on the postulates of Western theory, formulated based on the results of an analysis of the American economy. In this regard, the decisions of the Central Bank do not fully take into account the realities and specifics of the Russian economy, which limits the possibilities of achieving the set goals in the field of socio-economic development of the country.”

Pavel Medvedev, Doctor of Economics, Financial Ombudsman of the Association of Russian Banks (ARB):

“I have known Elvira Nabiullina since she was 17 years old, from the time when she was a student. When she studied at the Faculty of Economics of Moscow State University, I was the deputy head of the most terrible department for students of the faculty – the Department of Mathematics. I can say that not only me, but all the teachers had the best impressions of her. She was a wonderful student: during her studies she carefully completed everything that was required and received “A’s.” But, what seems more important to me, she was very keenly interested in the substance of the matter. And while still very young, she understood a lot of things very well, better than her fellow students and not at all for the sake of getting straight A’s in her record book.

If we talk about the shortcomings that I see, then, in my opinion, it would be necessary to explain in more detail what decisions it makes and why, and for what reason the regulator acts this way and not otherwise. It seems to me that at the beginning of her activity as head of the Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina tried to organize such educational work so that people understood what was happening. It is difficult to explain the actions of the Central Bank, because most citizens have other knowledge and skills, often very far from the economy. However, the decisions the regulator makes affect their lives. This is where it would be very useful for them to have at least a rough understanding of the role and capabilities of the regulator. Understanding would defuse the tension around the Central Bank and make the situation around it more friendly.

Nabiullina, as head of the regulator, aims to achieve inflation in our country at the level of 4%. Sometimes this was achieved, sometimes not. In the latter case, critics of the head of the Central Bank received an additional argument for attacks on her, which, in my opinion, was extremely unfair. Unfair because achieving such a level of inflation depends not only on the actions of the Central Bank, but also on the state of the country’s economy, foreign trade opportunities, etc. At the same time, Elvira Nabiullina is not looking for excuses, but for the possibility of obtaining results close to those planned. And – amazing thing! – as a rule, finds.

Essentially, Elvira Nabiullina has done much more for the Russian economy and the Russian financial market than she promised, and you have to be an extreme formalist or not a very conscientious person not to notice this.”

Igor Nikolaev, chief researcher at the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences:

“As head of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, Nbiullina can be credited with: firstly, the relative retention of inflation, secondly, the stability of the functioning of the country’s banking system, and thirdly, the high professionalism of the Bank of Russia employees. Strictly speaking, the third predetermines the first and second.

As paradoxical as it may seem, inflation is also an example of what failed. To verify this, it is enough to compare the forecasted values ​​for inflation and the actual ones. So, in 2023, inflation will be 7-8% (this is in the best case), but the forecast with which we entered this year was almost 1.5 times lower. It is difficult to recognize as an achievement the fact that among the largest banks we have almost no private ones left. Although, I admit that for some it may look like a merit.”