Press-releases

Bank of Russia cuts the key rate by 200 bp to 18.00% p.a. (25.07.2025)

Fri, 25 Jul 2025 13:30:00 +0300

On 25 July 2025, the Bank of Russia Board of Directors decided to cut the key rate by 200 basis points to 18.00% per annum. Current inflationary pressures, including underlying ones, are declining faster than previously forecast. Domestic demand growth is slowing. The economy continues to return to a balanced growth path.

The Bank of Russia will maintain monetary conditions as tight as necessary to return inflation to the target in 2026. In the baseline scenario, this implies an average key rate in the range of 18.8–19.6% per annum in 2025 and 12.0–13.0% per annum in 2026 and means that monetary policy will remain tight for a long period. Further decisions on the key rate will be made depending on the sustainability of the inflation slowdown and the dynamics of inflation expectations. According to the Bank of Russia’s forecast, given the monetary policy stance, annual inflation will decline to 6.0–7.0% in 2025, return to 4.0% in 2026 and stay at the target further on.

In 2025 Q2, the current seasonally adjusted price growth went down to 4.8% in annualised terms from the average of 8.2% in 2025 Q1. The similar indicator of core inflation equalled 4.5% after the average of 8.8% in the previous quarter. As of 21 July, annual inflation was 9.2%. Concurrently, in July, monthly increase in consumer price index will temporarily rise due to the significantly adjusted utility tariffs.

The impact of tight monetary conditions on demand is becoming increasingly evident in decreasing inflationary pressures. The effects of tight monetary policy, including through the ruble appreciation, are more prominently seen in the low growth in prices for non-food products. These effects are becoming gradually evident in decreasing inflationary pressures in the segments of food products and services as well. Price dynamics remain uneven, but the scatter between consumer basket components has slightly narrowed.

A stable downward trend in inflation expectations has not yet formed. Long-term expectations calculated from financial market instruments have slightly decreased. Inflation expectations of analysts and households have seen no significant changes. In July, price expectations of businesses edged up for the first time since the beginning of the year. Overall, inflation expectations remain elevated. This may impede a more sustainable slowdown in inflation.

The upward deviation of the Russian economy from a balanced growth path is narrowing. High-frequency data, including those for 2025 Q2, and survey indicators show a further slowdown in domestic demand growth with continued moderate growth of economic activity in general.

There are more signs of a softening in the labour market. According to surveys, the share of enterprises experiencing labour shortages continues to shrink. Labour demand in certain industries has been decreasing with a reallocation of employees across industries. Wages rise more slowly than in 2024, but their growth rate is still outpacing the growth in labour productivity. The unemployment rate is at its record lows.

Monetary conditions remain tight under the impact of the monetary policy pursued and autonomous factors. Since June, nominal interest rates have declined in most segments of the financial market following the key rate cut and the revision of market participants’ expectations for its further path, but they are still high in real terms. Non-price bank lending conditions remain tight as well.

Although deposit rates have decreased, households continue to demonstrate high propensity to save. Lending dynamics are uneven across segments. Unsecured consumer lending is shrinking, while the portfolio of mortgage and corporate loans is moderately increasing. Lending activity remains generally subdued.

Proinflationary risks prevail over disinflationary ones in the mid-term horizon. The key proinflationary risks are associated with a longer upward deviation of the Russian economy from a balanced growth path and high inflation expectations, as well as with the deterioration in the terms of external trade. A further decrease in the growth rate of the global economy and oil prices in case of escalating trade disputes may have proinflationary effects through the ruble exchange rate dynamics. Geopolitical tensions remain a significant uncertainty factor. Disinflationary risks involve a more significant slowdown in lending growth and domestic demand under the impact of tight monetary conditions.

The Bank of Russia takes into account the announced parameters of fiscal policy. Its normalisation in 2025 will have a disinflationary effect. Changes in the fiscal policy parameters may require an adjustment in the monetary policy pursued.

Following the Board of Directors’ key rate meeting on 25 July 2025, the Bank of Russia has updated its medium-term forecast.

On 6 August 2025 the Bank of Russia releases the Summary of the Key Rate Discussion and the Commentary on the Medium-term Forecast.

The Bank of Russia Board of Directors will hold its next key rate meeting on 12 September 2025. The press release on the Bank of Russia Board decision is to be published at 13.30 Moscow time.

Statement by Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina in follow-up to Board of Directors meeting on 25 July 2025

Depository licence of professional securities market participant issued to GS Invest LLC cancelled (25.07.2025)

Fri, 25 Jul 2025 11:31:00 +0300

On 24 July 2025, the Bank of Russia decided to cancel the depository licence of a professional securities market participant issued to Limited liability company GS Invest (TIN 9701256590; PSRN 1237700541187) (hereinafter, the Company).

The above decision was taken due to the Company’s failures to comply with the requirements for operations in the securities market, established by Executive Order of the Russian President No. 138, dated 3 March 2023, ‘On Additional Temporary Economic Measures Related to Securities Trading’ pursuant to Federal Law No. 281-FZ, dated 30 December 2006, ‘On Special Economic Measures and Enforcement Measures’.

The licence becomes null and void from 24 July 2025.

The Company must terminate its depository activity in the securities market, except for the actions required to fulfil the Company’s obligations to its clients that have arisen in connection with its depository activity in the securities market, and return all client assets by 24 November 2025.

Facts of market manipulation in transactions with certain derivatives and stock market instruments on Moscow Exchange established (16.07.2025)

Wed, 16 Jul 2025 17:00:00 +0300

Based on the findings of an investigation, the Bank of Russia has established facts of market manipulation by a group of persons, namely by LLC NKK-Paritet, LLC Invest-Profi, LLC InvestAlyans, V.A. Matytsyn, and O.R. Kasimov (hereinafter, the Persons). Over the period from 14 January 2020 through 29 May 2023 (hereinafter, the Period), they conducted reciprocal transactions with a number of derivatives¹ and stock² market instruments (hereinafter, the Financial Instruments) on Moscow Exchange.

During the Period, the Persons predominately chose low-liquidity financial instruments and placed matching orders to conduct transactions with the Financial Instruments with minimal time intervals between them. In most cases, the parameters of the matching orders were identical in terms of the price and amount of the Financial Instrument. This scheme minimised the possibility of a Person’s orders being executed by any counterparty other than the Persons. The transactions conducted by the Persons caused significant deviations in the trading parameters (trading volume).

Taking into account the above trading mechanism and the solid relationships between the Persons, it appears that the Persons acted in collusion. Pursuant to Clause 2 of Part 1 of Article 5 of Federal Law No. 224-FZ,³ these actions are qualified as market manipulation.

Thus, LLC NKK-Paritet, LLC Invest-Profi, LLC InvestAlyans, V.A. Matytsyn, and O.R. Kasimov violated the prohibition on market manipulation stipulated by Part 2 of Article 6 of Federal Law No. 224-FZ.

Following the investigation, the Bank of Russia has sent binding orders to the Persons to cease and desist from similar violations in the future.

The Bank of Russia emphasises that market manipulation, including conducting transactions in collusion in an anonymous trading environment, is prohibited. Transactions with prearranged counterparties may be conducted in trading modes where parties to a transaction can only place direct orders (addressed to a particular trading participant).

¹ Futures contracts:

for metals: palladium (PLD-3.20, PLD-9.20, and PLD-3.22), platinum (PLT-9.21, PLT-12.21, PLT-3.22, and PLT-6.22), aluminium (ALMN-3.22, ALMN-5.22, and ALMN-8.22), nickel (Nl-3.22), zinc (Zn-3.22 and Zn-4.22), and silver (SILV-6.22 and SILV-12.22);
for natural gas (NG-2.21);
for exchange rates: EUR/RUB (Eu-6.21), CNY/RUB (CNY-9.22), and USD/RUB (Si-12.23);
for ordinary shares of: VTB Bank (PJSC) (VTBR-6.22), Polymetal International plc (POLY-9.22), and Surgutneftegas PJSC (SNGP-9.22);
margin call option on futures contracts: for USD/RUB (Si-9.22M180822CA49500 and Si-9.22M180822CA50500).

² Ordinary shares of: PJSC EL5-Energo (ELFV), PJSC SFI (SFIN), PJSC LUKOIL (LKOH), VTB Bank (PJSC) (VTBR), and Sberbank (SBER); preference shares of Surgutneftegas PJSC (SNGSP).

³ Federal Law No. 224-FZ, dated 27 July 2010, ‘On Countering the Misuse of Insider Information and Market Manipulation and Amending Certain Laws of the Russian Federation’.

Results of monitoring of credit institutions’ maximum interest rates (15.07.2025)

Tue, 15 Jul 2025 18:44:00 +0300

The July 2025 results of the monitoring of the maximum interest rates on deposits¹ in Russian rubles of the top 10 credit institutions² attracting the largest amount of household deposits are as follows:

The first 10 days of July – 17.91%.

Data on changes in monitoring results are available on the Bank of Russia website.

Data on average maximum interest rates on deposits by maturity are given for reference.³

¹ The maximum interest rate at a credit institution is measured as follows:

– Maximum interest rates on deposits available to any client (including potential ones) without any limitations and preliminary conditions are taken into account. Deposits for special client categories (pensioners, children) and purposes (social, humanitarian, etc.) are excluded.

– Compound interest rates on deposits are out of scope.

– Interest rates that are effective provided that certain conditions are fulfilled (regular bank card turnover, a permanent minimum balance on a bank card, etc.) are not taken into account.

– Combined deposit products, i.e. deposits with additional conditions, are not considered. Such additional conditions for higher interest accrual may comprise, among other things, purchasing investment units in a certain amount, opening an investment account, concluding an agreement on investment or endowment life insurance, buying an extra service package, etc.

– Deposits with maturities divided into periods with varying interest rates are out of scope.

The average maximum interest rate is calculated as an arithmetic mean of the maximum interest rates of the top 10 credit institutions.

² Sberbank (1481) – www.sberbank.ru, VTB Bank (PJSC) (1000) – www.vtb.ru, Bank GPB (JSC) (354) – www.gazprombank.ru, AO ALFA-BANK (1326) – alfabank.ru, JSC Rosselkhozbank (3349) – www.rshb.ru, JSC DOM.RF (2312) – domrfbank.ru, CREDIT BANK OF MOSCOW (1978) – mkb.ru, TBank (2673) – www.tbank.ru, Promsvyazbank PJSC (3251) – psbank.ru, PJSC Sovcombank (963) – sovcombank.ru. The monitoring was conducted by the Department of Banking Regulation and Analytics of the Bank of Russia using the information provided by the said websites. The published values are indicative.

³ Average maximum interest rates on deposits: for up to 90 days — 17.22%; for 91 to 180 days — 17.39%; for 181 days to one year — 16.93%; and for over one year — 15.08%.

Insurance licence of LLC IC HATHOR revoked (10.07.2025)

Thu, 10 Jul 2025 11:49:00 +0300

By its Order No. OD-1469, dated 10 July 2025, the Bank of Russia revoked licence to provide compulsory motor third party liability insurance (CMTPLI) services No. 4404‑03, dated 28 December 2023, of Limited Liability Company ‘INSURANCE COMPANY HATHOR’ (Registration No. 4404 in the Unified State Register of Insurance Agents; hereinafter, LLC IC HATHOR).

The Bank of Russia made this decision in accordance with Subclause 3 of Clause 2 of Article 32.8 of Law of the Russian Federation No. 4015-1, dated 27 November 1992, ‘On the Organisation of Insurance Business in the Russian Federation’ (hereinafter, Law No. 4015-1), having ascertained that LLC IC HATHOR:

violated the statutory minimum equity-to-liabilities ratio established by the Bank of Russia in accordance with Clause 4.1 of Article 25 of Law No. 4015-1, thus threatening the rights and legitimate interests of policyholders, insured persons, and beneficiaries. The statutory minimum ratio is 1.0 according to the requirements for insurers’ financial resilience. The ratio value of LLC IC HATHOR was persistently declining in 2025 — from 0.75 as of 31 January 2025 to 0.31 as of 31 May 2025; and
had previously violated insurance legislation requirements and thus had been subject to measures stipulated by Paragraph 3 of Subclause 2 of Clause 2 of Article 32.5-1 of Law No. 4015-1 and applied by the Bank of Russia over the course of one year.

The decision came into force immediately upon adoption.

By its Order No. OD-1470, dated 10 July 2025, the Bank of Russia appointed a provisional administrator to manage LLC IC HATHOR for six months starting from 10 July 2025.

The functions of a provisional administrator were assigned to State Corporation Deposit Insurance Agency that will exercise the powers of the executive bodies of LLC IC HATHOR, identify its creditors, and keep record of their claims.

Following the revocation of LLC IC HATHOR’s licence, the existing CMTPLI policies will remain valid until their expiration dates.

The Russian Association of Motor Insurers (RAMI) will make compensation payments for damage to life, health, or property of victims under CMTPLI policies issued by LLC IC HATHOR. The information on the procedure for receiving compensation is available in the ‘Compensation Payments’ section of the RAMI’s website at www.autoins.ru.

Due to the revocation of LLC IC HATHOR’s licence, policyholders may terminate their CMTPLI contracts early. In this case, policyholders will receive a partial refund of their insurance premiums minus CMTPLI administration costs and contributions to the compensation reserve fund, proportional to the remaining term of the insurance policy or the remaining period of vehicle use.

For requests regarding early termination of CMTPLI contracts or other matters related to LLC IC HATHOR, please send you letters to the following address: 3 Ilyich Avenue, Donetsk 283001, Donetsk Urban District, Donetsk People’s Republic.

Bank of Russia to set official exchange rates of another 12 foreign currencies against ruble (08.07.2025)

Tue, 08 Jul 2025 15:16:00 +0300

The list of foreign currencies whose official exchange rates against the ruble are set by the Bank of Russia now includes:

Taka
Bahraini Dinar
Boliviano
Cuban Peso
Algerian Dinar
Ethiopian Birr
Iranian Rial
Kyat
Tugrik
Naira
Rial Omani
Saudi Riyal

The official exchange rates of the above foreign currencies against the ruble will be set by the Bank of Russia starting from 10 July 2025.

National Financial Board holds meeting (08.07.2025)

Tue, 08 Jul 2025 13:23:00 +0300

On 27 June 2025, the National Financial Board (NFB) held a meeting to consider the Bank of Russia Annual Report for 2024, the information from the Bank of Russia Board of Directors about the main issues relating to the regulator’s activities in 2025 Q1, and the report of Limited liability company Fund of Banking Sector Consolidation Asset Management Company.

The meeting participants discussed the key stages of the development of the Bank of Russia's digital ruble platform project and heard the reports about the advancement of the capital market and the market of digital financial assets and its prospects. They also discussed the concentration risks of systemically important credit institutions and the current stage of the transition to the predominant use of Russian software and radiolectronic products in finance.

The NFB approved the statement of Bank of Russia personnel costs for 2024, expenses on the pensions and personal insurance of Bank of Russia employees, capital investment, and other general and administrative costs, as well as Bank of Russia regulations on accounting at the Bank of Russia.

At juncture of three rivers: 800th Anniversary of Yuryevets (04.07.2025)

Fri, 04 Jul 2025 13:05:00 +0300

The oldest city of the Ivanovo Region was founded by Grand Prince George II of Vladimir to protect the eastern borders of North-Eastern Rus. According to the legend, an icon of Saint George the Victorious appeared to him there in a miraculous vision — hence the name of the city.

The picturesque views of Yuryevets nestled on the hills at the juncture of the Volga, Nyomda and Unzha Rivers inspired Isaac Levitan, Alexey Savrasov, Boris Kustodiev, and many other famous painters. Yuryevets is associated with the name of Andrey Tarkovsky who studied in primary school there and referred to the city as a homeland of his childhood.

On 7 July 2025, the Bank of Russia issues a 3-ruble silver commemorative coin ‘The 800^th Anniversary of the Foundation of Yuryevets’ of the Cities series (Catalogue No. 5111-0522).

The three-ruble silver coin (fine metal content 31.1 g, fineness 925/1,000) has a round shape and is 39.0 mm in diameter.

The obverse and the reverse of the coin have a relief rim around the circumference.

The obverse of the coin features a relief image of the National Coat of Arms of the Russian Federation and the inscriptions ‘РОССИЙСКАЯ ФЕДЕРАЦИЯ’ (RUSSIAN FEDERATION) and ‘БАНК РОССИИ’ (BANK OF RUSSIA), the denomination of the coin ‘3 РУБЛЯ’ (3 RUBLES), the year of issue ‘2025 г.’ (2025), the chemical symbol of the metal according to Mendeleev’s Periodic Table of Elements, fineness, the Saint Petersburg Mint trademark, and fine metal content.

The reverse of the coin features relief images of the coat of arms of Yuryevets and a panorama of Georgievskaya Square with the temple complex against the background of an image of the Volga River, laser treated for matte finishing, and the relief inscriptions ‘ЮРЬЕВЕЦ’ (YURYEVETS) on the upper left around the circumference and ‘800 ЛЕТ’ (800 YEARS) in two lines below.

The edge of the coin is corrugated.

The coin is minted in proof quality.

The mintage of the coin is 3.0 thousand pcs.

The new coin is legal tender of the Russian Federation and is mandatory for acceptance for all kinds of payments without any restrictions at its face value.

50th Anniversary of Novy Urengoy (04.07.2025)

Fri, 04 Jul 2025 11:22:11 +0300

Novy Urengoy is one of Russia’s new cities and the industrial centre of the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Area. The construction of the city began simultaneously with the development of the Urengoy gas field, which was the largest in the world as of the moment of its discovery.

On 7 July 2025, the Bank of Russia issues a 3-ruble silver commemorative coin ‘The 50^th Anniversary of the Foundation of Novy Urengoy’ of the Cities series (Catalogue No. 5111-0523).

The three-ruble silver coin (fine metal content 31.1 g, fineness 925/1,000) has a round shape and is 39.0 mm in diameter.

The obverse and the reverse of the coin have a relief rim around the circumference.

The reverse of the coin features a relief image of a stele against the background of an image of drilling works in front of a drilling rig, laser treated for matte finishing, the relief inscription ‘50 ЛЕТ’ (50 YEARS) on the upper left in two lines, and the national ornament, laser treated for matte finishing, around the circumference.

The edge of the coin is corrugated.

The coin is minted in proof quality.

The mintage of the coin is 3.0 thousand pcs.

The new coin is legal tender of the Russian Federation and is mandatory for acceptance for all kinds of payments without any restrictions at its face value.

Results of monitoring of credit institutions’ maximum interest rates (03.07.2025)

Thu, 03 Jul 2025 09:43:00 +0300

The June 2025 results of the monitoring of the maximum interest rates on deposits¹ in Russian rubles of the top 10 credit institutions² attracting the largest amount of household deposits are as follows:

The first 10 days of June – 18.87%;

The second 10 days of June – 18.40%;

The third 10 days of June – 18.32%.

Data on changes in monitoring results are available on the Bank of Russia website.

Data on average maximum interest rates on deposits by maturity are given for reference.³

¹ The maximum interest rate at a credit institution is measured as follows:

– Сompound interest rates on deposits are out of scope.

– Interest rates that are effective provided that certain conditions are fulfilled (regular bank card turnover, a permanent minimum balance on a bank card, etc.) are not taken into account.

– Сombined deposit products, i.e. deposits with additional conditions, are not considered. Such additional conditions for higher interest accrual may comprise, among other things, purchasing investment units in a certain amount, opening an investment account, concluding an agreement on investment or endowment life insurance, buying an extra service package, etc.

– Deposits with maturities divided into periods with varying interest rates are out of scope.

The average maximum interest rate is calculated as an arithmetic mean of the maximum interest rates of the top 10 credit institutions.

² Sberbank (1481) — www.sberbank.ru, VTB Bank (PJSC) (1000) — www.vtb.ru, Bank GPB (JSC) (354) — www.gazprombank.ru, AO ALFA-BANK (1326) — alfabank.ru, JSC Rosselkhozbank (3349) — www.rshb.ru, JSC DOM.RF (2312) — domrfbank.ru, CREDIT BANK OF MOSCOW (1978) — mkb.ru, TBank (2673) — www.tbank.ru, Promsvyazbank PJSC (3251) — psbank.ru, PJSC Sovcombank (963) — sovcombank.ru. The monitoring was conducted by the Department of Banking Regulation and Analytics of the Bank of Russia using the information provided by the said websites. The published values are indicative.

³ Average maximum interest rates on deposits: for up to 90 days — 17.34%; for 91 to 180 days — 17.85%; for 181 days to one year — 17.41%; and for over one year — 15.76%.

Results of monitoring of credit institutions’ maximum interest rates (27.06.2025)

Fri, 27 Jun 2025 16:21:00 +0300

The first 10 days of June – 18.87%;

The second 10 days of June – 18.40%.

Data on changes in monitoring results are available on the Bank of Russia website.

Data on average maximum interest rates on deposits by maturity are given for reference.³

¹ The maximum interest rate at a credit institution is measured as follows:

– Compound interest rates on deposits are out of scope.

– Interest rates that are effective provided that certain conditions are fulfilled (regular bank card turnover, a permanent minimum balance on a bank card, etc.) are not taken into account.

– Deposits with maturities divided into periods with varying interest rates are out of scope.

The average maximum interest rate is calculated as an arithmetic mean of the maximum interest rates of the top 10 credit institutions.

² Sberbank (1481) — www.sberbank.ru, VTB Bank (PJSC) (1000) — www.vtb.ru, Bank GPB (JSC) (354) — www.gazprombank.ru, AO ALFA-BANK (1326) — alfabank.ru, JSC Rosselkhozbank (3349) — www.rshb.ru, JSC Bank DOM.RF (2312) — domrfbank.ru, CREDIT BANK OF MOSCOW (1978) — mkb.ru, TBank (2673) — www.tbank.ru, Promsvyazbank PJSC (3251) — psbank.ru, PJSC Sovcombank (963) — sovcombank.ru. The monitoring was conducted by the Department of Banking Regulation and Analytics of the Bank of Russia using the information provided by the said websites. The published values are indicative.

³ Average maximum interest rates on deposits: for up to 90 days — 17.43%; for 91 to 180 days — 17.94%; for 181 days to one year — 17.52%; and for over one year — 16.11%.