Russians Withdrew $55 Bill. from European Banks - June, 2008

Russians Withdrew $55 Bill. from European Banks

June, 2008

Russian clients withdrew a record $55 billion from their European bank accounts in the fourth quarter of last year. Vedomosti newspaper writes that that is the largest outflow of Russian funds in the last five years. According to the Bank for International Settlements, that was the first year since 2003 that clients from Eastern Europe withdrew funds rather than adding to their accounts. Access to international loans has become harder for the majority of Russian companies due to the credit crisis. Therefore, Russian companies rerouted funds from foreign accounts to pay for foreign debts or for other purposes. Russian investors may have transferred their funds to more promising markets. Also, the share of the Central Bank’s currency reserves in foreign banks was reduced in the fourth quarter of last year by more than $17 billion. Of the $390 billion in bad debt written off by credit organizations since the beginning of last year, about $200 billion of that amount came from European banks. The Bank for International Settlements is headquartered in Switzerland. It coordinated work between central banks and conducts economic research.

Source: http://www.kommersant.com/p-12707/in...ional_banking/

Profit of Russia’s 30 Top Banks Surged 2.4 Fold

With past year’s results taken into account, the profit of Russia’s 30 biggest banks soared 2.46 fold on year to 923,482,205 ths ruble as of May 1, 2008 from 376,035,534 ths ruble. nder the aggregate balance report of Russia’s 30 biggest banks released by the CBR, this year’s profit equaled 126,937,903 ths ruble, while the profit-disposition item set forth 122,937,540 ths ruble. The aggregate assets of 30 biggest banks widened by 25.73 percent from 12,019,631,653 ths ruble as of May 1, 2007 to 15,112,634,865 ths ruble as of May 1, 2008. The funds of the biggest banks with correspondent accounts of the CBR and with the authorized bodies of other countries amounted to 506,524,253 ths ruble as of May 1, the accounts with other commercial banks stood at 182,120,115 ths ruble. The liabilities of 30 biggest banks amounted to 11,904,095,073 ths ruble.

Source: http://www.kommersant.com/p-12653/r_500/Bank_profits/

Luxemburg to Invest €25bn in Russia’s Economy

The capital funds of Luxembourg will invest €25 billion in the RF economy, Jeannot Krecke, who is the economy minister of that country, told RBC. Mr Krecke is in Sochi now, heading the delegation of businessmen (roughly 30) that visited the Krasnodar region. Krecke said they have established cooperation with a few regions of Russia where they are injecting big money. The capital funds of Luxemburg plan to invest €25 billion in Russia’s economy this year. But the Krasnodar region has been out of the list of regions, where Luxembourg established its business contacts. The fruitful cooperation will begin after this visit, Krecke hoped. Power engineering, metallurgy, hotel industry are amid potential directions of cooperation, the minister specified. The meeting of businessmen from Chambers of Commerce of Sochi and Luxembourg has been slated for June 11. The current visit is the fact-finding, Krecke made clear, pointing out that they will have clearer understanding of cooperation potential between the Krasnodar region and Sochi till and after 2014. Krecke invited the delegation of Krasnodar region to Luxemburg, where the region will be presented in April 2009.

Source: http://www.kommersant.com/p-12654/r_...stment_Krecke/