OREANDA-NEWS  The fact that half of the 20 largest banks in the Russian Federation have reduced deposit rates is due to the competition for customers. This was reported by Izvestia with reference to the Bank of Russia.

As explained in the regulator, if banks used to attract deposits from individuals at rates of 22 percent and even higher, now the maximum rates have dropped to 21 percent.

"That is, competition for customer funds and, in particular, deposits from citizens is not so strong now," the Central Bank believes.

Earlier it was reported that several Russian banks, without warning customers, began to reduce deposit rates in December. After the holidays, the rest of the top 20 credit institutions did the same.

In addition, after keeping the "key" at 21 percent per annum, large banks began to lower deposit rates.