Europe Funding Eyes Stable Banking for Russia

The European Commission has announcing funding of a 3 million euro project marking a new stage in economic and financial cooperation between the European Union and Russia
This will develop "capacity-building" measures within the Central Bank of the Russian Federation - the Bank of Russia.

Better procedures will be implemented by the European Central Bank, in partnership with national central banks of the euro single currency area. A protocol on the project will be signed on Monday at  commission delegation headquarters in Moscow by European Central Bank President Willem Duisenberg, Bank of Russia chairman Sergey Ignatiev, and head of the commission delegation in Russia Richard Wright.

Starting in November, the two-year project's wider objective is to support the Bank of Russia's work upgrading stability of the Russian banking system. The project will seek to transfer knowledge of sound practices used by banking supervisors in Europe. A combination of courses and seminars is planned in Moscow for staff of the Bank of Russia. Study visits to EU countries will be organized.

"The specialized training provided to officials and future managers of the Bank of Russia will contribute also to enhancing the bank's supervisory power," a commission statement said.

Long term, the project aims to deliver better relations between the Bank of Russia and credit institutions, improved recognition and understanding of applying international standards, and methodologies and systems in bank supervisory operations.

Better management and communication skills, and quality control capacity of  Bank of Russia staff are also in sight.

Michael Stedman, Associate Editor

PRAVDA.Ru