At the start of 2017, half the banks in Russia’s top 10 by assets were privately owned — no mean feat when the state sector makes up 70 percent of the gross domestic product.
One year later, only Alfa-Bank, one of Russia’s oldest, has escaped rescue. Three of the four members of the “Moscow Garden Ring” of privately held banks that grew rapidly in recent years have been nationalised, including Otkritie, hitherto the biggest private lender. The fourth bank, Credit Bank of Moscow, remains in private hands but has greatly increased the business it does with state-run oil company Rosneft.
