“Friendly” currencies confidently replace “toxic” currencies in deposits of individuals. In addition to the yuan, credit institutions offer deposits in more exotic currencies.
According to the Bank of Russia, as of June 1, the share of “toxic” currencies, primarily dollars and euros, in foreign currency deposits of individuals in Russian banks shrank to 86.6%. In monetary terms, this is about 3.25 trillion rubles ($40.1 billion). This is 1.4 times less than a year ago. Volume of funds in “non-toxic” currencies for the same period grew almost 20 times, to 500 billion rubles (equivalent to 44 billion yuan, CNY).
Of course, the yuan occupies a leading position among “friendly” currencies in deposits, including due to growing trade with China.
However, Russian banks offer customers to open accounts and deposits in other “friendly” currencies that have their own characteristics. In particular, there is growing interest in the dirham of the United Arab Emirates (UAE).
Deposits in Indian rupees and Kazakhstan tenge also appeared.
Indian rupees are not a freely convertible currency but their exchange rate is approximately equal to the ruble, and it fluctuates constantly, the head of analytical department at AMarkets Artem Deev notes. Therefore, proposals of such deposits are still few in Russia. Yield is about 3% per annum.
However, in general, this is an exotic and not very convenient asset. That’s partly why, by the way, Russia and India have departed from the idea of mutual settlements in national currencies, the expert emphasizes.
“Deposits in Kazakhstan tenge are also not very common. Rate is 0.1% per annum, there are deposits for three or six months. The advantage is that you can replenish the account both in tenge and in Russian rubles. But still, this is a niche product, – Artem Deev says. – The UAE dirham is tied to the US dollar, which is quite useful. After all it can be used as a defensive asset. Long term deposits give a yield of 2.1% to 3.04% (depending on the particular bank). For shorter terms it is from 1.35% to 2.25% per annum. And the spread between buying and selling dirhams per ruble is only 2.5%, while for dollars it exceeds 6%. Therefore, I think it is dirham that is now preferable for deposits.”