OREANDA-NEWS The profits of Russian banks will decrease due to the need to form reserves for the growing volume of bad loans. Elizaveta Danilova, director of the Financial Stability Department of the Bank of Russia, warned about this in the State Duma, RIA Novosti reports.

According to her, so far the profit of financial institutions is comparable with the results of last year, but by December we need to prepare for its reduction. Nevertheless, the representative of the Central Bank emphasized, the situation is manageable, nothing critical is happening.

At the moment, the level of bad loans in corporate portfolios is only 4.2 percent, which is slightly higher than before. The deterioration is related to certain export-oriented sectors of the economy, as well as problems in the small and medium-sized business sector. The quality of retail and mortgage loans has also deteriorated significantly, due to the active lending over the past two years, which all banks have been engaged in.

"Unfortunately, as a result, they are now facing risks, but here we still have additional protection in the form of a macroprudential buffer, which has accumulated 1.3 trillion rubles," Danilova stressed.

Earlier, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said that the ministry considered the idea of raising the income tax rate for banks in order to reduce the budget deficit, but rejected it. The Minister noted that in conditions of increasing risks, financial institutions need capital and reserves.