OREANDA-NEWS  The UAE dirham ceases to be exotic in the Russian market, a survey by Kommersant shows that some banks — BCS Bank, MTS Bank - have been opening deposits in this currency since the end of last year. At the same time, during the month, BCS Bank attracted tens of millions of dirhams for term deposits, said Andrey Karyakin, Director of Retail Business of the bank. Starting amounts — at least 15-25 thousand. AED (about 300-500 thousand rubles at the exchange rate of the Central Bank). However, to get the maximum rate, 1% per annum, you will need to deposit significantly more funds. So, in MTS-bank, an increased interest is accrued on annual deposits of 500 thousand. AED (9.7 million rubles). So far, in banks that open such deposits, they can only be replenished by non-cash, although some (Sovcombank, see Kommersant of September 9, 2022, Sberbank and FC Otkritie) already offer cash currency.

Several other banks are considering the introduction of such a deposit.

VTB indicated that they record the interest of customers in the UAE currency and are working on savings instruments in alternative currencies, but so far "the potential for such attraction is relatively low." The Soyuz Bank does not exclude the launch of deposit products in dirhams, but "a thorough analysis of the potential demand from customers will be required to make a final decision." Valentin Fedchin, Director of the Retail Lending Department of Digital Bank, said that the bank is "monitoring the market" and is considering the introduction of such deposits in the "medium term". At the same time, a wider number of banks have the opportunity to open current accounts in dirhams to customers. Among them, for example, VTB, Tinkoff Bank, Ak Bars, Zenit, PSKB, Mir Business Bank.

The dirham is pegged to the dollar, which allows you to encourage customers to switch from toxic currencies to the currencies of friendly countries, getting rid of the risks of dollar infrastructure. In addition, part of the export-import operations of companies from third countries is also beginning to be carried out in the UAE currency. Last week, Reuters reported that Indian refineries have started paying for the supply of Russian oil in dirhams.