OREANDA-NEWS. July 07, 2009. According to CBR, the Russian banking system's assets shrank 2.3% in May, primarily due to the halt in lending. Corporate lending was down to RUB13.0 tln (-1.5%), while retail was slid to RUB3.7 tln, a 1.9% drop, reported the press-centre of OTKRITIE Financial Corporation. 

On the funding side, retail deposits were still growing, adding 0.3% to reach RUB6.3 trln, while corporate sources were virtually flat. The salient negative news lies in the fact that the capital of the banking system was down 0.5%

View: 60% of the banking system's decline in capital is due to banks facing sanation. The rest reflects revaluations and paybacks of subordinated debt. However, the overall effect is negative, as the capital base is essential for stability of the sector.

Corporate lending has been shrinking in tandem with the appreciatiom of the ruble against the dollar, while ruble lending has been flat. On the retail side, however, both ruble and foreign currency lending have declined. Considering the increase in bad loans (5.5% in retail, 4.4% in corporate)and expectations of further credit quality deterioration, we believe that stagnation in lending is no surprise.

On the liabilities side, the growth in retail deposits clearly reflects an environment of high inflation and positive interest rates, as banks were down paying expensive CBR loans which decreased some RUB550bn in May. We believe this will help improve banks’ margins. It also increases CBR's ability for a potential refinancing of banks, if this becomes necessary.