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The Central Bank of the Russian Federation (), commonly known as the Bank of Russia (), also called the Central Bank of Russia (CBR), is the
central bank A central bank, reserve bank, national bank, or monetary authority is an institution that manages the monetary policy of a country or monetary union. In contrast to a commercial bank, a central bank possesses a monopoly on increasing the mo ...
of the
Russian Federation Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...
. The bank was established on 13 July 1990. It traces its beginnings to the
State Bank of the Russian Empire The State Bank of the Russian Empire () was the dominant financial institution of the Russian Empire from its founding in 1860 until the Empire's end in 1917. A public bank headquartered in Saint Petersburg, it initially coexisted within the Emp ...
established in 1860. The bank is headquartered on Neglinnaya Street in Moscow. Its functions are described in the
Constitution of Russia The Constitution of the Russian Federation () was adopted by national referendum on 12 December 1993 and enacted on 25 December 1993. The latest significant reform occurred in 2020, marked by extensive amendments that altered various sections ...
(Article 75), as well as in federal law.


History

Shortly after declaring sovereignty in June 1990, the
Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...
decreed the creation of a central bank under the leadership of . Matiukhin commandeered Russian branches of the
State Bank of the USSR The State Bank of the USSR (), known as the State Bank of the RSFSR from 1921 to 1923, and commonly referred to as Gosbank (), was the central bank and main component of the single-tier banking system of the Soviet Union. It replaced the State Ban ...
and brought them under the control of the Bank of the RSFSR. A comprehensive central bank statute was passed in December 1990 and the bank adopted a charter in June 1991. A remnant of the State Bank continued to operate alongside it until it was dissolved along with the Soviet Union in December 1991, and the Bank of Russia assumed its remaining business. Since 1992, the Bank of Russia began to buy and sell foreign currency on the
foreign exchange market The foreign exchange market (forex, FX, or currency market) is a global decentralized or over-the-counter (OTC) market for the trading of currencies. This market determines foreign exchange rates for every currency. By trading volume, ...
created by it, establish and publish the official exchange rates of foreign currencies against the ruble. In 2006 capital controls mandate by the RCB began to ease, as confidence in the ruble mounted from the depths of the 1990s. Legislation continued to ease through the 2010s. The
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
reversed this trend. In August 2023 the RCB raised the primary interest rate from 8.5% to 12%. At the same time president
Vladimir Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin (born 7 October 1952) is a Russian politician and former intelligence officer who has served as President of Russia since 2012, having previously served from 2000 to 2008. Putin also served as Prime Minister of Ru ...
was said to be considering capital controls on exporters from Russia, who would have to convert 80% of foreign funds to the ruble. This would be done in order artificially to increase demand for the domestic currency. In April 2024 this measure was prolonged for another year, from the original term of six months. It was reported that "43 major Russian commodities groups" were affected. At the time the ruble was trading at 93 to the US dollar. In October 2023 western firms that wanted to exit the Russian economy were doubly fleeced when they were told about extraordinary capital controls. On 15 July 2024 the CBRF closed the statistics of the over-the-counter currency market; at the time it was under pressure from international sanctions over the
Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, , starting the largest and deadliest war in Europe since World War II, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, conflict between the two countries which began in 2014. The fighting has caused hundreds of thou ...
. On 26 July 2024 the CBRF hiked its primary interest rate by 200 basis points to 18%. In 2024 Q2, core inflation increased to 9.2% in annualised terms and labour shortages continued to grow. In September 2024 it was reported that the RCB had allowed the
Rosoboronexport JSC Rosoboronexport (ROE; , ''Rosoboroneksport'') is the sole state intermediary agency for Russia's exports/imports of defense-related and dual use products, technologies and services. The Rosoboronexport Federal State Unitary Enterprise (FSU ...
to buy US banknotes from the Rwandan Ministry of Defence while entities in Russia were interdicted from having US currency. On 13 September 2024 the RCB raised its primary interest rate to 19%.


Role and duties

According to the constitution, it is an independent entity, with the primary responsibility of protecting the stability of the national currency, the
ruble The ruble or rouble (; rus, рубль, p=rublʲ) is a currency unit. Currently, currencies named ''ruble'' in circulation include the Russian ruble (RUB, ₽) in Russia and the Belarusian ruble (BYN, Rbl) in Belarus. These currencies are s ...
. Before 1 September 2013, it was the main regulator of the Russian banking industry, responsible for banking
license A license (American English) or licence (Commonwealth English) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit). A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another part ...
s, rules of banking operations and accounting standards, serving as a
lender of last resort In public finance, a lender of last resort (LOLR) is a financial entity, generally a central bank, that acts as the provider of liquidity to a financial institution which finds itself unable to obtain sufficient liquidity in the interbank ...
for credit organizations. After pointed date functions and powers of CBR were significantly expanded and the central bank received the status of a mega-regulator of all financial markets of Russia. It holds the exclusive right to issue ruble
banknotes A banknote or bank notealso called a bill (North American English) or simply a noteis a type of paper money that is made and distributed ("issued") by a bank of issue, payable to the bearer on demand. Banknotes were originally issued by commer ...
and
coin A coin is a small object, usually round and flat, used primarily as a medium of exchange or legal tender. They are standardized in weight, and produced in large quantities at a mint in order to facilitate trade. They are most often issued by ...
s through the Moscow and St. Petersburg mints, the
Goznak Joint Stock Company "Goznak" (; short for , ) is a Russian joint-stock company responsible for research and development as well as manufacturing security products including banknotes, coins, stamps, identity cards, secure documents, state orde ...
mint Mint or The Mint may refer to: Plants * Lamiaceae, the mint family ** ''Mentha'', the genus of plants commonly known as "mint" Coins and collectibles * Mint (facility), a facility for manufacturing coins * Mint condition, a state of like-new ...
. The central bank issues commemorative coins made of precious and non-precious metals as well as investment ones made of precious metals, which are distributed inside and outside the country. In 2010, in honor of its 150th anniversary it issued a 5-kilo commemorative gold coin Alexander II. Under Russian law, half of the bank's profit must be channeled into the government's federal budget. The Central Bank of Russia is a member of the BIS. The Bank of Russia owns a 57.58% stake in
Sberbank The Public JSC Sberbank (, initially a contraction of ) is a Russian majority state-owned banking and financial services company headquartered in Moscow. As the Russian successor entity of the State Labor Savings Banks System of the USSR, it was ...
, the country's leading
commercial bank A commercial bank is a financial institution that accepts deposits from the public and gives loans for the purposes of consumption and investment to make a profit. It can also refer to a bank or a division of a larger bank that deals with whol ...
. The Bank of Russia also owns a 100% stake in Russian National Reinsurance Company (RNRC), the biggest national reinsurance company. The RNRC was established in July 2016 to prevent possible problems with
reinsurance Reinsurance is insurance that an insurance company purchases from another insurance company to insulate itself (at least in part) from the risk of a major claims event. With reinsurance, the company passes on ("cedes") some part of its own insu ...
of large
risk In simple terms, risk is the possibility of something bad happening. Risk involves uncertainty about the effects/implications of an activity with respect to something that humans value (such as health, well-being, wealth, property or the environ ...
s under
international sanctions during the Russo-Ukrainian War International sanctions have been imposed against Russia and Crimea during the Russo-Ukrainian War by a large number of countries, including the United States, Canada, the European Union, and international organisations following the Russia ...
, like constructing the
Crimean Bridge The Crimean Bridge (, ; ), also called Kerch Strait Bridge or Kerch Bridge, is a pair of parallel bridges, one for a four-lane road and one for a double-track railway, spanning the Kerch Strait between the Taman Peninsula of Krasnodar Krai in ...
. The Bank of Russia is actively working on financial literacy of the population. In particular, th
Fincult
project is developing a website with materials aimed at improving financial literacy of the population, combating fraud through a description of all fraudulent schemes. The Bank of Russia is also involved in working with citizens' pension savings. Pensions in Russia remain very low. For 2024, the minimum social pension is set a
13,269 rubles (147 US dollars)
Since there is not enough money in the budget, citizens are offered to save for retirement on their own. To this end, since 2024, the Bank of Russia and all its regional divisions have been actively promoting the Long-ter
Savings Program developed by the Bank of Russia.
The main feature of the long–term savings program is co-financing by the state. That is, citizens who have joined the program will receive an increase in their savings from the state for a certain time. Thus, people can form additional capital for their priority goals in the future, for example, to buy a home or educate children, create a financial "safety cushion" or use this money as an increase to a pension, she said in a
interview Bankiros.ru
representative of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation Larisa Pavlova.


Anti-fraud activities

A key prospective witness in improper financial affairs was Lyubov Tarasova () who was a senior auditor for the Central Bank of Russia and worked for the "Unicom" () auditing firm which had been established on 20 August 1991 and was responsible for "checking the correctness of the documentation and the essence of business transactions that are in doubt" (), but was stabbed to death in her apartment in Moscow on 15-16 October 1997. In 2017, within the framework of a joint anti-phishing project of the Bank of Russia and search engine
Yandex Yandex LLC ( rus, Яндекс, r=Yandeks, p=ˈjandəks) is a Russian technology company that provides Internet-related products and services including a web browser, search engine, cloud computing, web mapping, online food ordering, streaming ...
, a special
check mark The check or check mark (American English), checkmark ( Philippine English), tickmark ( Indian English) or tick ( Australian, New Zealand and British English) is a mark (✓, ✔, etc.) used in many countries, including the English-speaking ...
(a green circle with a tick and 'Реестр ЦБ РФ' (Bank of Russia Register) text box) appeared in the search results, informing the consumer that the website is really owned by a legally registered company licensed by the Bank of Russia.


Governors

The President of the Board of Directors of the Central Bank is the head of the central banking system of the Russian Federation. The Governor is chosen by the
President of Russia The president of Russia, officially the president of the Russian Federation (), is the executive head of state of Russia. The president is the chair of the State Council (Russia), Federal State Council and the President of Russia#Commander-in-ch ...
; and serves for four-year-terms after appointment. A Governor may be appointed for several consecutive terms ( Sergey Ignatyev was the Governor of the Central Bank for 11 years, and he was appointed three times, in the longest serving term in post-soviet Russia).


Subsidiaries

The Central Bank of Russia holds directly significant participatory interests in a number of Russian companies: *
Sberbank of Russia The Public JSC Sberbank (, initially a contraction of ) is a Russian majority state-owned banking and financial services company headquartered in Moscow. As the Russian successor entity of the State Labor Savings Banks System of the USSR, it was ...
(50%+1 voting share of the stock); *
Moscow Exchange The Moscow Exchange (MOEX; , ) is the largest exchange in Russia, operating trading markets in equities, bonds, derivatives, the foreign exchange market, money markets, and precious metals. The Moscow Exchange also operates Russia's central secur ...
(11.779% of the stock); * Russian National Reinsurance Company (100% of the stock); * Trust company of the Banking Sector Consolidation Fund (100% of the stock); * Rosincas (Russian Association of Cash-in-transit). Additionally, the Bank of Russia held earlier interests in some other Russian organizations. In particular, after the liquidation of
Gosbank The State Bank of the USSR (), known as the State Bank of the RSFSR from 1921 to 1923, and commonly referred to as Gosbank (), was the central bank and main component of the single-tier banking system of the Soviet Union. It replaced the State Ban ...
(State Bank of the USSR), the CBR beneficially acquired complete or controlling interests in five so-called "Russian Foreign Banks" (until 1991 – "Soviet Foreign Banks"): *
VTB Bank VTB Bank (; formerly known as ''Vneshtorgbank'', , lit. 'International Trade Bank') is a Russian majority state-owned bank headquartered in various federal districts of Russia; its legal address is registered as St. Petersburg. As of 2022, ...
(99.99% of the stock – until 2002, now - 60.9% owned by The Federal Agency for State Property Management (Rosimushchestvo) ); * Donau Bank AG, Vienna; *
East-West United Bank East-West United Bank () is a bank based in Luxembourg, established on 12 June 1974 by the Gosbank, the Soviet Union's central bank. It has been fully owned by Russia-based Sistema since 2018. The bank offered private banking and corporate financ ...
, Luxemburg; * Eurobank, Paris; * Moscow Narodny Bank, London; * Ost-West Handelsbank, Frankfurt am Main. All of them were members of the USSR Vnesheconombank system and were transferred to the CBR in 1992 by the Resolution of the Presidium of the
Supreme Soviet of Russia The Supreme Soviet of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Russian SFSR, later the Supreme Soviet of the Russian Federation, was the supreme government institution of the Russian SFSR from 1938 to 1990; between 1990 and 1993, it was ...
. For over five years – 2000 to 2005 – all stocks of the Russian Foreign Banks were being purchased from the Bank of Russia by
VTB Bank VTB Bank (; formerly known as ''Vneshtorgbank'', , lit. 'International Trade Bank') is a Russian majority state-owned bank headquartered in various federal districts of Russia; its legal address is registered as St. Petersburg. As of 2022, ...
. As part of the financial support to credit institutions, the Bank of Russia invests in them through the Banking Sector Consolidation Fund and acquires (on a temporary and indirect basis) shares in the equity of such banks. The first project of this kind was Otkritie FC Bank, in summer 2017.


Policies

In December 2014, amidst falling global oil prices,
international sanctions during the Russo-Ukrainian War International sanctions have been imposed against Russia and Crimea during the Russo-Ukrainian War by a large number of countries, including the United States, Canada, the European Union, and international organisations following the Russia ...
,
capital flight Capital flight, in economics, is the rapid flow of assets or money out of a country, due to an event of economic consequence or as the result of a political event such as regime change or economic globalization. Such events could be erratic or ...
, and fears of recession, the bank had increased the one-week minimum auction repo rate up by 6.5 points to 17 percent. This caused a run on the ruble, and on 29 January, the bank decreased the rate by two points to 15 percent. In January 2015, the head of monetary policy, Ksenia Yudayeva, a proponent of strict anti-inflation policy, was replaced by Dmitry Tulin, who is "seen as more acceptable to bankers, who have called for lower interest rates". In response to the 2021–2022 Russo-Ukrainian crisis, multiple countries imposed
economic sanctions Economic sanctions or embargoes are Commerce, commercial and Finance, financial penalties applied by states or institutions against states, groups, or individuals. Economic sanctions are a form of Coercion (international relations), coercion tha ...
against Russian banks. On 22 February 2022, US president
Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...
announced restrictions of activities by US citizens involved with the Bank of Russia and others. In March, the
Bank of International Settlements The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) is an international financial institution which is owned by member central banks. Its primary goal is to foster international monetary and financial cooperation while serving as a bank for central bank ...
suspended the Bank of Russia. In March 2022, the
Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation The Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation (DTCC) is an American financial market infrastructure company that provides clearing, settlement and trade reporting services to financial market participants. It performs the exchange of securities ...
blocked Russian securities from the Bank of Russia and Russia's
finance ministry A ministry of finance is a ministry or other government agency in charge of government finance, fiscal policy, and financial regulation. It is headed by a finance minister, an executive or cabinet position . A ministry of finance's portfolio ...
. At the end of May 2022, three months into the invasion of Ukraine, the central bank cut interest rates in an effort to prop up the increasingly isolated Russian economy, suffering shortages and supply chain issues. The inflation rate rose to 17.8 percent in April. Also the ruble reached its strongest level against the U.S. dollar in four years, hurting exports. The central bank announced a possible rate cut in 2025 due to stabilising inflation on the 1000th day of the Ukraine war. Sanctions also included asset freezes on the Russian Central Bank, which holds $630 billion in
foreign-exchange reserves Foreign exchange reserves (also called forex reserves or FX reserves) are cash and other reserve assets such as gold and silver held by a central bank or other monetary authority that are primarily available to balance payments of the country, ...
, to prevent it from offsetting the impact of sanctions. On 5 May 2022, President of the European Council
Charles Michel Charles Michel (; born 21 December 1975) is a Belgian politician who served as the president of the European Council from 2019 to 2024. He previously served as the Prime Minister of Belgium, prime minister of Belgium between 2014 and 2019. Miche ...
said: "I am absolutely convinced that this is extremely important not only to freeze assets but also to make possible to confiscate it, to make it available for the rebuilding" of
Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...
.


See also

* Banking in Russia *
Economy of Russia The economy of Russia is an Developing country, emerging and developing, World Bank high-income economy, high-income, industrialized, mixed economy, mixed Market economy, market-oriented economy. —Rosefielde, Steven, and Natalia Vennikova. " ...
*
Gosbank The State Bank of the USSR (), known as the State Bank of the RSFSR from 1921 to 1923, and commonly referred to as Gosbank (), was the central bank and main component of the single-tier banking system of the Soviet Union. It replaced the State Ban ...
*
Goznak Joint Stock Company "Goznak" (; short for , ) is a Russian joint-stock company responsible for research and development as well as manufacturing security products including banknotes, coins, stamps, identity cards, secure documents, state orde ...
* International Reserves of the Russian Federation * Andrey Kozlov * National Foreign Exchange Association * Russian National Card Payment System *
List of financial regulatory authorities by jurisdiction In this list of financial regulatory and supervisory authorities, central banks are only listed where they act as direct supervisors of individual financial firms, and competition authorities and takeover panels are not listed unless they are set ...
*
List of central banks This is a list of central banks. Central banks by alphabetical order This is a list of central banks. Countries that are only partially recognized internationally are marked with an asterisk (*). Major central banks by currency allocation p ...


Notes


References


Further reading

*


External links


Bank of Russia
(archived) *

*
State Bank of the Russian Empire at the site of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation
(archived) *
State Bank of the Russian Empire at the site of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation
{{authority control Economy of Russia Banks established in 1860 1860 establishments in the Russian Empire Government agencies of Russia Russian entities subject to U.S. Department of the Treasury sanctions Financial regulatory authorities of Russia