Banks don't want to be equal with international ratings

Association of the North-West Banks asks the Ministry of Finance to change the requirements for banks, which participate in auction on placement of free budget funds on deposits, in part of international ratings for long-term solvency. Now banks with rating not lower than ВВ- by Fitch or S&P classification and not lower than Ва3 (Moody’s) are admitted to trading. Implementation of this requirement is rather problematic for most of Russian banks in view of agencies’ systematic decrease in ratings and forecasts both for Russia and banks - in most cases with solvency preservation.

At the same time, according to Association of the North-West Banks, the city budget funds can be placed almost only in banks with state participation. The Association suggests considering the ratings of national agencies, which are accredited by the Ministry of Finance («Expert RA», «National Rating Agency», «AK&M», «RusRating»), or using the method of the Central Bank by abandoning the absolute values of individual international ratings of a particular bank.

In most cases the rates are politically committed and caused by Russia's position in the Ukraine. American mortgage market situation in 2008 showed that the calculations of leading rating agencies are far from a real assessment of company’s financial condition, country's economic situation. In this regard, the position of Russian banks not to be equal with ratings of American agencies looks quite reasonably.