‘There is not a single bank in Sverdlovsk Region that has yet had to confiscate its borrowers’ property. However, banks do use their customers’ estate to back up their loans,’ Governor of Sverdlovsk Region Eduard Rossel announced in the course of a press conference in Yekaterinburg.

For one, Ukraina Hotel next to Yekaterinburg-Koltsovo highway that is currently under construction has already been mortgaged to Sberbank of Russia, since Uralzarubezhservis (the builder) doesn’t have the necessary resources.

‘As for the banking sector on the whole, banks tend to merge and consolidate, while customers are bringing their money to the local banks. People are leaving Bank Severnaya Kazna, for instance, after the bank was taken over by Alfa-Bank. They prefer to trust the regional banks, and I feel theirs is the right choice. The first thing any federal bank does under a crisis is squeezing the money out of the provinces,’ Eduard Rossel explained.