Russia's Banking Sector in 2017

In 2017, banking sector demonstrated moderate development trends across main indicators. Asset holdings went up by 6 percent during the year somewhat below nominal growth rate of Russia's GDP. The ratio of banks' asset holdings and annual GDP remained at 91–92 percent for the second year in a row. The number of lending institutions decreased by 56 from 623 to 567 during the year. The process whereby some of the credit institutions were forced out of the market on the grounds of failing to meet the regulator's requirements notably slowed down. Around fifty banking licenses were revoked in 2017 – half of what was seen in 2015 and 2016 when ninety banking licenses were revoked annually