Newsletter Jul/Aug 2005: Reform of Russian bank regulation stalls

MOSCOW – The plodding pace of bank reform in Russia and the government’s push to reinforce state banks’ dominance are holding back improvement at private sector banks. Despite some regulatory advances during the last couple of years, the lack of political willingness to tackle major weaknesses in the banking sector prevails. This is the blunt assessment made by bank analysts at credit rating agency Standard & Poor’s in a report on the Russian banking industry, published in late June.