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Russia’s Central Bank raises standards for obligatory currency reserves of national banks

According to the press release, this measure is aimed to discourage the growth of foreign exchange liabilities in the structure of liabilities of banks

MOSCOW, March 4. /TASS/. Russia’s Central Bank is to raise its standards of obligatory currency reserves for national banks by 1 percentage point to 5.25% from April 1, 2016, except for obligations to physical persons, the regulator said in a press release on Friday.

According to the press release, this measure is aimed to discourage the growth of foreign exchange liabilities in the structure of liabilities of banks.

From April 1, 2016, the Central Bank sets the following reserve standards:

- for legal entities-non-residents, in the currency of the Russian Federation - 4.25%,

- for legal entities-non-residents, in foreign currency - 5.25%,

- for individuals, in Russian rubles - 4.25 %,

- for individuals, in foreign currency - 4.25%.

As for other obligations in the Russian currency the percentage requirement is set at 4.25%, for other liabilities in foreign currency - 5.25%.

The established standards are to be applied in the reporting period from April 1 to May 1, 2016. The ratio used by credit institutions for calculation of the average value of required reserves remained unchanged, according to the Central Bank press-release.