As Russians’ savings continue to grow, clients are increasingly preferring other bank instruments to ruble-denominated time deposits, senior economist at Otkritie Bank Maxim Petronevich said at a Rosgosstrakh Life Insurance Company press breakfast, Resetting the life insurance market, or does investment insurance have a future?
According to the expert, foreign currency deposits have grown by $10 bln in Russia since November 2018; their growth exceeds the growth of ruble deposits.
Head of Otkritie Bank insurance products Maria Sayenko confirmed this estimate, adding that, although the bank deposit market continues to grow, such instruments as interest-bearing savings accounts and debit cards show faster growth. According to Sayenko, in 2017, demand deposits accounted for 17-18% of total retail client funds deposited in bank accounts; in 2018, their share grew to 20%, and in 2019, exceeded 23%. The expert explains this trend by suggesting that interest-bearing savings accounts and debit cards allow customers to manage their funds more quickly, ultimately making 1-2 percentage points more than with time deposits.
A joint Otkritie Bank and Rosgosstrakh Life study has shown that 60% of customers save by making regular transfers, which means they need flexible tools such as savings accounts.
According to Petronevich, private individuals continue to be the main creditors of the Russian economy: the total value of assets they hold is about $500 bln.