The current year won’t be easy for Russian banks, but there are no grounds for problematic situations, the Deputy Chief of Russia’s Central Bank, Mikhail Sukhov, said on the sidelines of the Russian Economic and Financial Forum in Switzerland.
"In general, I think it will be difficult, but there are no serious grounds for problematic situations. The year won’t be easy, but I think that managing banks in a difficult situation is not less important than managing them in a period when the market situation is favorable," TASS cited him as saying.
According to Sukhov, the profit of Russian banks totaled 83 billion rubles during the first two months, and may reach 100 billion rubles in the first quarter. "The net profit for January-February amounted to 83 billion rubles. This profit was obtained not only by our largest bank, and the banking sector also was profitable for the first time recently. In December and at the beginning of this year the profitability of banks began to recover. I think that in the first quarter earnings will exceed 100 billion rubles. As for annual forecasts, we should be careful with them, but I think that the figure of 400 billion rubles is quite realistic," the deputy chairman of the Central Bank said.
