In Russia, one in five banks has become unprofitable
7 May 17:48
The number of unprofitable banks in Russia has risen sharply. As of January 1, 2026, there were 34 such banks, and by early March, that number had risen to 60.
This was reported by The Moscow Times, citing data from the Central Bank of Russia, according to "Komersant Ukrainian".
Thus, one in five (19.7%) participants in the banking market began operating at a loss.
Reasons for Economic Difficulties
Denis Sochnev, managing partner of Refinans.ru, notes that this is the highest figure since 2022, when Russia came under sweeping sanctions due to its invasion of Ukraine. According to him, this situation is due to the cumulative effect of tight monetary policy:
“The regulator kept the key rate at a record high of 21% for over six months and began slowly lowering it in June 2025, bringing it to the current 14.5%.”
Read us on Telegram: important topics – without censorship
The Central Bank noted that it was mostly small banks that turned out to be unprofitable, with their combined share of the sector’s assets not exceeding 1%.
However, according to Expert RA, some large organizations also reported negative financial results over the past year. For example, as of April 1, 2026, Pochta Bank’s loss amounted to 7.2 billion rubles, Sinara’s to 3.3 billion, UBRIR’s to 2.8 billion, Centrocredit Bank’s to 1.8 billion, and Ingo’s to 1.2 billion.
Financial advisor and founder of Rodin.Capital Alexey Rodin believes that small and medium-sized banks, which are limited in their sales channels and lack the resources to develop new niches, are at risk.
According to him, those who actively lent to businesses are also facing problems, as the default rate among companies is approaching a critically high level. In the fourth quarter of 2025, the share of non-performing loans to legal entities exceeded 11%, compared to 5.8% a year earlier.
The increase in the tax burden has sharply worsened the situation for small businesses in Russia: half of all enterprises (50%) have begun operating at a loss.
Watch us on YouTube: important topics – without censorship
Read also: Oil refineries are just the “warm-up”: when to expect the real heart attack of the Russian economy
As a reminder, the Russian government previously decided to tighten control over fuel production due to a significant decline in output. The reason was a series of drone attacks in April that affected at least nine oil refineries.
