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Russian banks’ profits plummet 40% in 2014 — Central Bank

MOSCOW, January 21. /TASS/. Russian banks’ profits declined by 40.7% in 2014 to 589 billion rubles (about $9 billion), according to data released by the Russian Central Bank on Wednesday.

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Bank of Russia will be ready to cut key interest rate after downward trend in inflation

The banks’ profits shrank last year as they had to create larger loan impairment provisions, which had grown by 42.2% since the start of 2014 compared with the 16.8% growth registered in 2013, the regulator said.

If oil prices stay at $40 per barrel in 2015, Russian banks will have to set aside 3 trillion rubles ($46 billion) for loan provisions, according to an estimate made by Russia’s largest state-owned lender Sberbank.

Russian Central Bank First Deputy Chairman Alexey Simanovsky said last November that Russian banks’ profits in 2014 would be 10% lower than in the previous year.

In 2013, Russian banks earned 994 billion rubles ($15.2 billion). Russia’s banking sector earned record profits of over 1 trillion rubles ($15.3 billion) in 2012.

Simanovsky said Russian banks may return to their record profits in 2015.

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Central Bank of Russia

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