Duma raised state insurance coverage of bank deposits

At an additional plenary meeting on Saturday the State Duma (the lower house of the Russian parliament) has adopted in the first reading and on the whole a bill under which more individual deposits in Russian banks would be secured by the state.

While the document could have been adopted by a simple majority vote (226 votes required), it was actually endorsed by 403 legislators.

The bill stipulating that the Russian Central Bank should secure deposits in all banks, including those not allowed into the state insurance system of individual deposits (only most reliable banks had been invited to join the system ), was developed by the Central Bank, but submitted by deputies Vladislav Reznik and Viktor Pleskachevsky.

The lower house also amended a number of other acts to fit them to the deposits state insurance bill.

Under these documents, the state secures individual deposits in all banks, including those that the state had not invited into the state insurance system.

Under these documents, should a bank go broke, the state commits itself to pay off 100,000 Russian rubles (3,400 U.S. dollars) on each of deposits made by individuals, save what was paid off by the bankruptcy commission.

Chairman of the house banking committee Vladislav Reznik described it as a means to calm down fears of a banking crisis. "I believe that this measure will calm down people," he emphasized.

"These laws are actually a state guarantee of people's deposits," he said.