22 Russian Banks Among 1000 Largest Ones

The Banker magazine has published a list of the world?s 1,000 largest banks, based on the results of 2004. 22 Russian banks made the list, three more than in 2003, Mosnews reported.

Last year?s list included 19 of Russia?s credit institutions. This year they were joined by the Russian Standard bank, the Industrial-Construction Bank and Evrofinance Mosnarbank.

Russia?s largest, state-controlled Sberbank (Savings Bank) has moved up several notches from 152nd place to 138th. The state-owned Vneshtorgbank (Foreign Trade Bank) is still one of the largest in Central and Eastern Europe.

Three Russian banks made it into a Top 25 list based on the capital to assets ratio: the International Industrial Bank was 4th with a 50.54 percent ratio, while National Reserve Bank was 10th (with 38.67 percent) and Globax Bank was 18th (28.22 percent).

Four Russian banks also made it into a Top 25 list based on the profits to assets ratio. They were the Russian Standard Bank (4th place, 14.05 percent ratio), the National Reserve Bank (6th, 12.43 percent ratio), International Industrial Bank (14th, 6.12 percent ratio) and Gazprombank (24th, 5.15 percent ratio). The Russian Standard Bank was also 4th in the Top 25 banks based on the profits to capital ratio. Sberbank was placed 21st in that list.

The Banker magazine also noted that the average profitability of Russian banks grew from 21.5 percent to 26.1 percent over the course of the year.