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The Russian banking sector entered a period of uncertainty following attempts to ward off symptoms of Asian flu in fall 1997. The Moscow stock market mirrored the plunge of east Asian markets while currency pressures increased after investors took $8 billion to $10 billion out of the country. Moreover, the government has scaled down the authorized bank system which gave private financiers access to budgetary funds. Banks' profits from privatizations have also declined., Russia is in the midst of unsettled times. Craig Mellow reports from Moscow on the epic struggles occurring in the country's political leadership as well as in the chaebol-like financial [...]

Political rivalries pose serious threats to Russia's banking sector, which has witnessed remarkable improvements since 1997. After years of expansive growth and continued recovery, political struggle among the country's most prominent figures has created disastrous effects on banks and the Russian economy as a whole. One of the most controversial issues involved deputy finance minister Andrei Vavilov, who was charged of misplacing public funds totaling to as much as $500 million., Russia has witnessed the beginnings of a recovery. But as Craig Mellow reports from Moscow, the economic and financial sector, including banking, has become one of the battlegrounds for heavyweight [...]

Russian banks have gained considerable influence since 1996. These banks currently have capital base of $350 million and assets worth $60 billion. They have proven to be the most effective liaisons between government and industry and provide the expertise which allows local businessmen to enter and compete in foreign markets. These banks also arrange clients into financial-industrial-groups that allow them to invest in each other., By international standards Russian financiers remain bit players, but they have used their influence and know-how to build economic clans far beyond their physical means. What a difference a year [...]

Russian bankers claim that the country's financial sector is not in crisis. They explain that the apparent chaos reigning over the domestic banking industry is actually a temporary effect of economic reforms started in 1995. Unfortunately, interest rates in the country remain pegged at 30%-50% in hard currency, and banks are still reluctant to credit the average domestic industrial customer. Nevertheless, the Russian financial sector has been showing signs of progress, most prominent of which is a leaning towards renationalization., Amid the apparent chaos that exists in the Russian banking sector, some positive signs are emerging. There is no crisis in Russian banking, Russian bankers never tire of explaining. There [...]

The banking industry is playing a major role in Russia's economy due to the government's reliance on commercial banks for funds. In 1995, the national government borrowed loans from banks using controlling shares in public corporations as collaterals. Moreover, majority of Russia's foreign trade is funded by banks. The government has also appointed various banks to assist the State Savings Bank in managing public funds., The banks are now so entrenched in the system that administrations of any persuasion would have difficulty dislodging them. This was supposed to be the winter that Russia s banks [...]

The Russian banking industry is moving in the right direction. Although Russian banks still have some way to go to provide service on a European level, they have become more civilized and are no longer engaged in the hard-sell duping of customers. Foreign bankers commend the progress being made by their Russian counterparts, particularly in providing competitive compensation. Many local bankers themselves feel that they have learned all they need to know about their business and are now eager to focus their attention on how they can help rebuild their country., New banks, both foreign and domestic, are adding excitement to Russia's financial system. There is no commercial risk. There is no market risk. There is no performance risk. There is [...]

Since the fall of Communism Russia has seen a startling increase in the number of banks. Many of them have the latest electronic technology. Some of the new banks are related to the old ministries and are not commercial enterprises in the western sense. The truly commercial banking operations have been very successful since their inception in 1988. Some Russian banks have built up large stocks of foreign currency for their trading operations., Life for the Russian banking industry holds no more certainty than for anybody else here. New central bank capital requirements may close four-fifths of the country's 4,000 or so commercial [...]

Tatyana Paramonova, head of Russia's Central Bank, is a tough administrator and policy decisionmaker. She has been strict about financial activities that do not contribute to economic stabilization. Her monetary policy has been favorable to consumers in terms of lower inflation rate and cheaper imports. However, bankers have not been favorably disposed to her especially after she raised currency reserve requirements., The Central Bank's Tatyana Paramonova has halted play time for the bank boys. What is a poor, Russian banker to do? This country's grim new passion for economic stabilisation has [...]

Private sector lending remains one of the most under-developed business segments in Russia. According to investors, the domestic private lending market is a highly risky business with a 25% to 30% non-return rate. Problems are further aggravated by the series of assassination attempts launched on financial executives, some of which have been successful. These events have forced a number of investors to venture in government securities., New central bank governor Tatyana Paramonova is cracking down in Russia's Wild West banking scene. Nikolai Dengov - the young president of First National Moscow Bank - endured Russia's arduous [...]

Pres. Askar Akayev's capitalist slant towards 'privatization, low customs barriers' and a stable currency has enabled the development of a commercial banking sector in Kyrgyzstan. The country currently has 18 banks, five of which are foreign-owned in keeping with its thrust to liberalize foreign ownership of banks. The 1996 presidential elections, however, could put Akayev out of office., Kyrgyzstan, a mountainous republic of 3.7 million people, just past Uzbekistan on the way to China's nuclear free-fire zone, does not at first glance seem like a rising international financial [...]

Belarus Pres. Alexander Lukashenko's policy towards private ownership of commercial firms has significantly decreased foreign investments in the country. The financial market has been restricted after a huge portion of the country's assets were stored in Belarusbank. Moreover, banks were nationalized after the president ordered the return of equities to state-owned shareholders., President Alexander Lukashenko does not like banks - or any business beyond his executive orders Yevgeny Kravtsov, president of Minsk Komplex Bank, is typical of the successful post-Soviet financier. He [...]