Russian Banks Can Easily Absorb Credit Losses in Ukraine | Business | The Moscow Times

Russian Banks Can Easily Absorb Credit Losses in Ukraine | Business | The Moscow Times:



"Russian banks could easily absorb any credit losses stemming from Ukraine's crisis from their earnings this year, a managing director at credit rating agency Moody's in Moscow said.



Ukraine this week appealed for $35 billion over two years to hold up its economy following the ouster of President Viktor Yanukovych. Its economy flatlined in 2013 and the hryvna currency has slid 8 percent in three months.



"The biggest risks [to Russian banks] is that their assets in Ukraine will become nonperforming," Yaroslav Sovgyra, associate managing director at Moody's who manages a team of analysts, said.



"[Ukrainian] currency devaluation may contribute to that but the credit risk is the biggest [risk]."



Moody's estimated in a December report that the exposure to Ukraine of four Russian banks — Gazprombank, Vnesheconombank, Sberbank and VTB — was around $20 billion to $30 billion."



'via Blog this'