Russian banks reported record profits last year fuelled by a rush to take out government-subsidised mortgages, as well as a boom in financing to purchase assets being sold by western companies exiting the country.
Despite strict international sanctions intended to isolate the Russian financial system as punishment for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine, its banks generated Rbs3.3tn ($37bn) in 2023, up about 16 times from the previous year, the Russian Central Bank (CBR) said in a report published on Tuesday.
The performance came as “somewhat of a surprise”, said Alexander Danilov, the head of the CBR’s banking regulation department. In March the regulator had estimated profits would be more modest and only “exceed Rbs1tn ($11bn)”.