While the Bank of Russia is revoking licenses from various Russian banks, people are transferring their savings to other countries. As a rule, government officials and successful businessmen keep their funds abroad. Ordinary people prefer banks in the nearest countries such as Belarus.
At present, Belarusian banks are extremely popular among the Russians who decided to keep their savings there. During the recent four months, the volume of Russian forex deposits has increased by 16% in the Belarusian branch of Alfa-Bank. Besides, the Gazprombank subsidiary logged a 30% growth in deposits made by the Russians. The main reason is that such banks offer higher interest rates and favorable insurance conditions.
The point is that in Russia, the average interest rate on deposits in the US dollars or euros is 2.5% whereas in Belarus, it is twice higher, 5%.
After the key rate hike in the first half of 2015, Russian banks were offering acceptable interest rates on foreign currency deposits. But, at the end of the previous year, yield on bank deposits declined following the benchmark rate cut.
Moreover, in Russia, the biggest deposit insurance is only 1.4 million rubles. In Belarus, a sum of insurance is not limited.
