The banking system of the Russian Federation: status and prospects

The features and current trends in the development of the banking system of the Russian Federation are highlighted in the article. The authors propose an original method of evaluation of activities of credit organizations with the use of statistical data and rating agencies. The concept of the banking system is summarized in this article. Also its structure is analyzed by the number of credit institutions and the quality of their operations. The authors identifie differences between the concepts of banking service, banking operation and banking product and propose classification according to different characteristics of banking institutions and operations that they carry out. Then the authors go to estimating the volume of banking services in Russia and their patterns in total. Separately the main passive (deposits and loans) and active operations (lending to legal entities and individuals) are characterized. The authors identifie the major developments in the banking system of the Russian Federation in 2014 due to political and economic sanctions by the U.S. and Eurozone countries. The article provides a vision of the authors on the further development of the banking activity in Russia and proposes specific measures to adapt the banking system of the Russian Federation in a constantly changing political and economic conditions (financial sanctions, a change of key Central Bank rates, devaluation, etc.). According to the authors' opinion the expected prospects of development of the banking system of the Russian Federation to 2015 are: the growth in savings accounts in banks; sanctions will be of a personal nature and will not affect the largest credit institutions; the active growth of the corporate loan portfolio will continue; the growth of retail lending portfolio will continue to slow; mortgage lending will increase in the total loan portfolio of the banking sector of Russia.