SBERBANK LOSES ITS PRIVILEGES

MOSCOW, August 2 (RIA Novosti) - Russians withdrew a total of $0.9 to $1.2 billion from their deposits in commercial banks during this summer's collapse of confidence in the banking sector, writes Vremya Novostei. However, the number of private deposits in the largely state-owned Savings Bank (Sberbank) increased by 10.3 billion rubles during the first week of the crisis alone. Today, Sberbank holds close to 60% of all private deposits.

On Saturday, the State Duma adopted a historic decision to cancel the 100% guarantees for Savings Bank deposits to be opened after October 1, 2004. The relevant amendments to the law "On Insuring Physical Individuals' Bank Deposits" were adopted in three readings at once. Under the circumstances, the law canceling state guarantees for Sberbank is seen as an incentive for the private banking sector.

According to a survey conducted by ROMIR Monitoring, 18% of Russians said the state's attempts to discourage people from depositing money in private banks and prompt them to redeposit their money in the Savings Bank were the cause of the recent banking crisis. Twenty-two per cent of respondents linked the crisis to the state's attempt to take the banking sector under its control, while 20% said the government was trying to streamline the sector. A further 17% believed the problems were due to competition among banks.