Andrei Kostin briefed the President on the current operations of VTB Bank.
The President noted that VTB is one of Russia’s core financial institutions. It is a bank with state participation and a great deal was done in 2013 to strengthen it.
Mr Kostin said that the VTB Group’s indicators for last year were high: loans to the public grew by 35 percent, mortgages increased by 35 percent, and loans to businesses rose by 20 percent.
According to Mr Kostin, the banking community approved of the creation of a mega-regulator based at the Central Bank. Bankers feel this has had a positive effect not only on the regulation of the banking sector oversight, but on financial and insurance markets as well – in other words, the entire sphere of financial operations. The Central Bank’s actions to rid the banking sector of dishonest or financially unviable institutions also received the banking community’s support. Mr Kostin noted that this has not undermined trust in the banking sector; on the contrary, the public’s bank deposits grew by 20 percent overall last year, while deposits at VTB grew by nearly 27.5 percent.