Russian state banks as a guarantor of the country's stable economy

2025 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

The banking system of Russia is heterogeneous: there are large and small players, as well as institutions in which the most important indicator differs - the state's share. What are the specifics of the work of credit institutions, where the prevailing volume of assets belongs to the authorities?

What is a state bank?

Credit institutions that are owned (on the basis of majority ownership) and managed by the authorities are state-owned banks. The main function of such organizations is lending to business entities that are significant from the point of view of national policy, as well as investment and settlement operations related to this. As a rule, Russian state-owned banks serve key, strategically important sectors of the economy that affect the country's position in the international business arena, and which are difficult for credit institutions with private capital to work with.

The government, owning its own financial institutions, conducts foreign trade, regulates the most important domestic industries(such as, for example, agriculture), conducts policy in the regions of the country, manages investments in national projects. There are, therefore, a number of clear criteria to determine which banks are state-owned. In Russia, such institutions play a key role in national financial policy.

Central banks. Who owns the Central Bank of Russia?

The Central Bank (Bank of Russia) is a subspecies of the state credit institution. Its functions are macroeconomic regulation of the national economy, control over the work of financial organizations with private capital, participation in international monetary processes, and assistance in the implementation of the country's strategic development programs. The Central Bank manages the state's strategic gold and foreign exchange reserves. The legal status of the Central Bank of Russia, according to experts, is very ambiguous. On the one hand, the authorized capital of the Central Bank of our country is the property of the federation.

At the same time, the institution is responsible for the obligations of the state (but not vice versa), operates at the expense of its own income. It turns out that from the point of view of the law, the Central Bank of Russia is independent of the government of the country. It would not be entirely correct to assert that the Bank of Russia is a public authority. If one adheres to this point of view, then the state has a far from absolute scope of authority to use the assets of the Central Bank in the form of gold and foreign exchange reserves. And if, for example, the government expresses such intentions, then the Central Bank has the right to apply to international courts.

CB: assets abroad

The Central Bank owns the so-called Russian foreign banks - credit institutions operating abroad. Among those are Moscow People's Bank (located in London), Ost-West Handelsbank (Frankfurt am Main), Eurobank (Paris). Thus, there are Russian banks with state participation in the most developed countries of Europe.

The role of financial organizations of this type is to improve the mechanism of settlement and credit operations with foreign entities. Roszagranbanks are able to attract investments for the needs of the state, which benefits the country's economy. As a rule, the profitability of such institutions (and the amount of tax payments to the budget) is higher than that of commercial banks.

The country's largest state banks

Sberbank of Russia (SB RF) is the largest state-owned credit institution in terms of assets. About 60% of the shares of this financial organization belong to the authorities, 40% - in public circulation. This state bank of Russia was established during the Soviet era, but the private ownership rate is one of the highest on the market.

For example, the assets of Rosselkhozbank are 100% owned by the Federal Property Management Agency (one of the main authorities in the structure of bank assets). Another example of a large credit state organization is VTB Bank. The Federal Property Management Agency owns just over 75% of the shares of this institution. Quite a large share that belongs to the government,is also present in Gazprombank.

Vnesheconombank's special status

Vnesheconombank (VEB) is a credit institution that occupies a specific position in the banking system of our country. The fact is that it conducts its activities without a license and is not subject to supervision, while other state-owned banks in Russia deal with these phenomena. Vnesheconombank is more than 90 years old, and from the point of view of the law it is a state corporation. In the practice of this institution, debt obligations are acceptable. Options for interaction between Vnesheconombank and another state credit institution - Roseximbank (created to support exports) are being considered. If this succeeds, then the authorities will have an instrument to support foreign trade through the provision of partial guarantees. However, according to some experts, old debts of VEB may become a certain obstacle for this kind of work.

Experts: state-owned banks should be multilevel

Specialists of the banking market note that the development of the country's banking system should have clear principles. One of these experts see a system of subordination between credit institutions of different levels. It is proposed to include Rosselkhozbank, as well as RBR and RRDB, among the banks that should be in the top position. Their activities may be related to the financial support of the country's investment policy, the development of the agricultural sector.

At the "second level" - Sberbank, VTB, Roseximbank and VEB. In particular, the functions of the SBThe Russian Federation, experts believe, should be concentrated around the tasks associated with saving deposits, and not allow expansion in the trade segments. According to the experts, state-owned banks of Russia of the “third level” should be universal: give loans, participate in making payments, etc. The entry of banks of this category into the first two, according to financiers, should have persistent barriers.

Efficiency of public banks

In recent years, research has been actively carried out related to the development of the Russian banking system. As part of one of them, the effectiveness of banks, including state ones, was revealed. The study also examined organizations with foreign participation. Credit institutions, based on the results of the work of experts, were divided into five groups: state-owned banks, taking into account the Security Council of the Russian Federation, state-owned banks that are not related to the Security Council of the Russian Federation, private banks with a central office in Moscow or St. Petersburg, private banks in the regions, as well as subsidiary banks of foreign financial institutions.

It turned out that the most effective are the state-owned banks of Russia included in the groups with the RF Security Council. The list of many criteria included in the study confirmed this. Their closest pursuers in terms of the quality of work turned out to be private banks from Moscow. However, the efficiency of the RF SB turned out to be slightly lower than the average for the group of ten largest banks by assets (but still higher than the average for the above five groups of institutions).

Reliabilitystate banks

Many financiers (and ordinary people) believe that Russian state-owned banks are more reliable than private ones. This, as the practice of the work of credit institutions shows, is generally true. Experts believe that there are a number of quite logical explanations for this. First, state-owned banks, due to their greater historical experience, have extensive tools for regional expansion and gaining client confidence. Secondly, financiers believe that the state often sponsors projects without going too deep into cost-benefit analysis, which is completely uncharacteristic of private lending institutions. Thirdly, state-owned banks allow themselves to hire people at a lower salary level, which generally increases the operational efficiency of organizations and competitiveness in comparison with private banks.

Prospects for state-owned banks

Among some financial market experts, the thesis is popular that the share of state participation in banks will gradually decrease. However, instead of owning the assets of institutions, the authorities will seek to introduce the right people into government bodies. There is also an opposite opinion, according to which the reduction of the state's share in the banking system does not have the most pronounced prospects: the point is in the specifics of the regulatory framework. According to the second point of view, the transformations, if they are implemented, will in fact reflect only a formal transfer of shares (or an exchange of functions) between various state structures. Among other nuances that determine the prospects for credit institutions with state participation is the share of the Central Bank in the managementcommercial banks.

There is an opinion about the need to withdraw the Central Bank from the capital of private financial organizations, since the position of the Central Bank as an owner contradicts the task assigned to it to oversee and work in the interests of the economy of the whole country. The year in which, with a certain probability, state-owned banks of Russia may undergo reform is 2014, the list of possible transformations will most likely be published on the pages of the Central Bank bulletins or specialized media.