Every fifth bank in Russia becomes loss-making, highest level since 2022
The number of loss-making banks in Russia has sharply increased: while there were 34 such banks as of 1 January 2026, by the beginning of March the figure had risen to 60.
Source: The Moscow Times, an independent Amsterdam-based news outlet, citing data from the Central Bank of Russia
Details: As a result, nearly every fifth participant in the Russian banking market (19.7%) is now operating at a loss.
This is the highest level since 2022, when Russia was hit with sweeping sanctions over its invasion of Ukraine, said Denis Sochnev, managing partner at Refinance.ru.
He explained that this is linked to the cumulative effect of tight monetary policy: the regulator kept the key interest rate at a record-high 21% for more than half a year and only began gradually lowering it in June 2025, bringing it to the current 14.5%.
The Central Bank noted that most of the loss-making institutions were small banks whose combined share of sector assets does not exceed 1%.
However, according to Expert RA, several large organisations have also reported negative financial results over the past year.
As of 1 April 2026, losses amounted to RUB 7.2 billion (US$96 million) for Pochta Bank, RUB 3.3 billion (US$44 million) for Sinara, RUB 2.8 billion (US$37 million) for UBRIR, RUB 1.8 billion (US$24 million) for CentroCredit Bank and RUB 1.2 billion (US$16 million) for Ingo.
Medium-sized and small banks have fallen into a risk zone because they are limited in sales channels and lack the resources to develop new niches, said financial adviser and Rodin.Capital founder Aleksei Rodin.
He noted that institutions that actively lent to businesses are also facing problems because corporate default rates are approaching critically high levels.
In the fourth quarter of 2025, the share of non-performing corporate loans exceeded 11%, compared with 5.8% a year earlier.
Background: The increase in the tax burden has sharply worsened conditions for small businesses in Russia, and half of companies are reportedly operating without profit.
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