The Central Bank of Russia (CBR) has finally done what critics have been calling on it to do for years. In May, it exercised new anti-money laundering powers and for the first time pulled the licence of a suspect bank. However, rather than prompting congratulations to the CBR, the closure of Sodbiznesbank nearly sparked a crisis.
Russia has about 1,300 banks but the top 400 have more than 90% of the capital. The rest are often referred to as ?bank-like institutions? and survive by offering what are politely called ?exotic services? to their owners. Deputy CBR chairman Andrei Kozlov said that 80% of Sodbiznesbank?s capital was artificial and the regulator was investigating more than $1 billion in ?suspicious transactions?.
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