Central Bank Chairman on Money Laundering

Banks' payments for marketing services amounted to more than $5bn in 2002, Russian Central Bank Chairman Sergey Ignatyev declared today. However, the real price of these services is several times lower, he added. He noted that it was necessary to prevent money laundering at banks.

He also pointed out that the profitability of 100 largest Russian banks was 21 percent in 2002. At the same time he stressed that the profitability of 8 of these banks did not exceed 3 percent. According to Ignatyev, this is a rather strange situation. "There can be three reasons of such a low profitability: poor management, which is doubtful, underreporting of income, or a false amount of the capital", he said. That is why it is important to adopt the bill on currency and credit regulations, which has been submitted to the State Duma, he added.

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