Inside Russian Banking

VTB is Russia's second largest bank.It is selling a 10% stake in itself for three billion dollars.The government is ready to accept owning less than a majority stake now in Russia's largest companies,making such sales possible.
The Russian banking sector has recovered substantially.VTB went from a two billion loss in 2009 to a two billion profit for 2010.
Still,because of a lack of confidence in global growth,the Russian loan book is only growing at 5.5%.Basically,there is a lack of demand,a lack of confidence in the industrial sector in Russia.
As for new global capital requirements for banks,Russian regulations on capital were always more conservative than in the West,so that won't be a problem for Russian banks.They were already holding plenty of capital in reserve.
Andrei Kostin is CEO of the Russian bank VTB.