OREANDA-NEWS. December 1, 2008. Banks have received permission to reclassify the securities they obtained from CBR. The Bank of Russia authorized lending institutions to revise their accounting policies relating to securities in order to minimize losses from a slump in stock prices. The Central Bank of Russia provided banks with the opportunity to reclassify debt and equity securities from the category "valued at par through profit and loss" to "available for sale" or "held to maturity" (for debt securities).

In addition, lending institutions are now allowed to reclassify debt securities from the category "available for sale" to "held to maturity". Reclassification will cover all securities of an issue or securities under one ID code or those assigned to one valuation category. Reclassification itself should be carried out prior to December 31, 2008. In the process, securities purchased before July 1, 2008 are to be reclassified at fair price as of July 1, 2008, while stocks acquired after this date until the day when the reclassification decision is adopted will be reclassified at fair price as of the date of their purchase.