How the Central Bank revoked banking licenses

February 21 Bank of Russia revoked the license at Qiwi Bank, which occupied 89th place in the banking system of the Russian Federation in terms of assets. This is the first such precedent in Russia in more than a year. The previous one was the deprivation of Krosna Bank’s license in August 2022.

The cleanup of the banking sector began in 2013 with the arrival of Elvira Nabiullina as head of the Central Bank. During this period, the number of credit institutions in the Russian Federation decreased by more than half – from 956 (as of February 1, 2013) to 360 (as of February 1, 2024). The licenses of banks and non-banking organizations were revoked before 2013, but not so en masse. The peak of Central Bank activity occurred in 2014–2016, when the number of reviews approached one hundred per year. Among the most high-profile cases are the revocation of the license of Vneshprombank in 2016 (40th place by assets) and of Yugra Bank in 2017 (included in the top 30). At the end of 2019, Elvira Nabiullina statedthat work to improve the Russian banking sector is in its final stage. 2023 was the first year when the Central Bank did not revoke a single banking license.