Financiers reached out to the Central Bank – Newspaper Kommersant No. 210 (7411) dated 11/14/2022

The most economical option for attracting liquidity for Russian banks was loans from the Central Bank, the rates for which for a period of more than one day exceed the key one by only 1–1.75 percentage points. As a result, in October there was a sharp surge in the volume of bank financing by the regulator. According to experts, credit institutions can thus cover the emerging liquidity shortages and stock up on funds, expecting an increase in demand for borrowing.

According to the data published by the Central Bank, in October the volume of loans provided by the regulator to financial institutions increased by 43.2% compared to September, to 25.7 trillion rubles. The main growth was in “other loans”, where the volume increased by 2.8 times, to 14.1 trillion rubles. For the first time since February, they exceeded the volume of intraday loans, which amounted to 11.5 trillion rubles in October. The volume of pawnshop loans also increased (usually they can be granted for 1–90 days) – 1.7 times, up to 80.6 billion rubles.

In general, according to the results of January-October, the volume of financing from the Central Bank became a record since 2007 – 223.7 trillion rubles, having already exceeded the figure, including in 2021, when there was also an increased, in contrast to previous years, the amount of assistance from the Central Bank ( 129.1 trillion rubles).

As a rule, loans from the Central Bank are attracted by banks to compensate for the need for liquidity, as well as to ensure the smooth operation of the payment system, to assist a particular organization experiencing temporary liquidity difficulties, or to maintain financial stability.

For example, in September, against the background of the announcement of partial mobilization, banks faced an increased outflow of balances on the accounts of individuals (decreased by 458 billion rubles or 1.4%), but this volume was significantly lower than in February 2022— 1 .2 trillion rubles (down 3.5%).

However, this time experts see reasons for the increased volume of borrowings from the Central Bank in something else. The outflow of cash from banks at the end of September is in no way connected with the volume of attracted financing from the Bank of Russia, Ivan Uklein, director of banking ratings at Expert RA, believes. In addition, already in October, the outflow of cash dropped to 100 billion rubles, said the head of the Central Bank, Elvira Nabiullina.

According to Mr. Uklein, the increase in the activity of banks can be explained by the fact that the conjuncture of rates turned upwards relative to the key rate of 7.5%. Thus, it became cheaper to borrow from the Central Bank than from the market. A similar situation, the expert adds, was at the end of February. For example, deposit rates began to rise actively at the end of September. According to Banki.ru data on effective rates, only MCB (10.0%), VTB and Alfa-Bank (9.5% each; the latter has a savings account, not a deposit) are above 9% from the list of systemically important ones .

There may be other reasons for the October surge. As Mr. Uklein notes, it cannot be ruled out that one of the large banks thus covered the liquidity deficit in October.

In particular, last week the NKR rating agency noted a decrease in the volume of liquid assets in 2022 at VTB. Their volume turned out to be lower than the values ​​of previous years, “which led to a decrease in the degree of coverage of total liabilities and liabilities up to 30 days.” Liquid assets make it possible to cover possible outflows of funds, for example, if depositors want to simultaneously withdraw a large amount of deposits from the bank. Of the systemically important banks, only Rosbank answered Kommersant, emphasizing that he did not take loans from the Central Bank in October.

“Additionally, it is worth noting that the “credit season” is traditionally coming – the New Year is approaching, a historically traditional time for spending by the population. In order to issue loans without disrupting liquidity, banks need to raise borrowed funds,” adds Anastasia Terekhina, partner of the FBK audit and consulting group. With the current restrictions on attraction, she believes, the most reasonable way to raise funds is from the Central Bank. At the same time (see material on the same page), financiers this year do not count on a repetition of the traditional pre-New Year’s boom of citizens’ interest in borrowed funds.

Olga Sherunkova