‘All the unhealthy panic around the bank deposits in Sverdlovsk Regions has finally cooled down. People are no longer desperate to get their cash back immediately. The banks that used to have a hard time cashing their customers’ deposits have by now managed to solve their liquidity problems, and people even started opening more deposits now,’ says Pavel Efremov, Advisor to the Chairman of Bank Monetniy Dom (Mechel-Bank).

For one, the amount of foreign currency deposits opened in November 2008 exceeded that for October 2008 by 22.9%, whereas the amount of foreign currency deposits opened in October only exceeded that for September by 11.1%.

‘Unfortunately, we were unable to make up for the October’s deposit outflow in November, but we are gradually getting there, so we expect to get the ante-crisis volume of private individuals’ investments by the end of the year. The nature of our business lies in focusing on the ruble deposits with impressive interest rates, while foreign currency deposits make up only a small portion of private investments,’ he explains.

‘All the rumors regarding the ruble’s possible dramatic devaluation and the Central Bank’s actions aimed at expanding the currency rate limits have persuaded some people to have their savings converted into foreign currency, so the share of foreign currency deposits increased as a result. Nevertheless, this increase had very little influence on our bank’s deposit structure. The trend is on the decline at the moment, so the amount of foreign currency deposits is gradually getting back to its usual parameters,’ Pavel Efremov notes.