Russian Parliament Approves billion aid to banks – tagesschau.de

Russian Parliament Approves billion aid to banks – tagesschau.de

Date: 19.12.2014 16:02 clock

The Russian banks received government billions in aid to cope with the consequences of sanctions by the EU and the US better. The lower house of the Russian parliament, the Duma approved a legislative package that provides financial injections of a trillion rubles – this is the equivalent of 13.6 billion euros. Before the money can flow, however, the approval of the House of Lords and the signature of President Vladimir Putin is still needed. Finance Minister Anton Siluanow announced that the capital contributions expected to flow from the start of 2015.

No support of Sberbank

For the law is not clear which banks benefit from the law. The Financial Market Committee of the Duma, however, been informed that Sberbank will get nothing – one of the heavyweights among Russian banks. The credit institution should obtain capital at the central bank.

The central bank announced this week a series of measures to support the financial system. This includes the recapitalization of banks, where the exchange rate of the ruble adding massive losses. The national currency has lost 45 percent of its value against the dollar this year. The plan provides for the central bank to strengthen the capital buffers of the banks and to help them to service their loans in foreign currencies. Their costs have risen dramatically by the depreciation of the ruble.

State already helped several banks

The Russian state came in this year several banks for help, who are cut off because of the sanctions in the wake of the conflict of the Western Ukraine credit markets. Among the previous recipients of government assistance included the bank VTB.