Based on the results of a 1-week deposit auction held on Tuesday, April 25, Russian banks will deposit Rub 360 bln, which equals the set limit, at the Bank of Russia. The amount of liquidity offered by the banks turned out to be 2.5 times higher (Rub 912.2 bln).
According to the information posted on the regulator's website, 181 lending institutions from 59 regions bid at the auction. The banks offered their funds at the rates ranging from 9.3% to 9.75%. The cutoff rate equaled 9.65%, and the weighted average rate came in at 9.58%.
For the purpose of regulating liquidity in the banking sector the Bank of Russia mainly conducts 1-week auctions. The type of an auction (repurchase or deposit) is determined by forecasting liquidity (deficit or surplus, respectively). The Bank of Russia said that in the conditions of a shift towards the structural liquidity surplus in 2017 the regulator intends to conduct 1-week deposit auctions according to the schedule, and to give separate notice if it decides to hold a repurchase auction.
At 22 deposit auctions held in August-December 2016 (after an 18-month break the first deposit auction took place on August 9, 2016) banks deposited Rub 6,166.2 bln at the Bank of Russia.
Notably, only at four out of 20 deposit auctions held in 2017 banks offered less than the limit, while at the others banks' interest in short-term ruble deposits with the Bank of Russia was stronger than the regulator had anticipated. A record amount that banks deposited at the Bank of Russia after deposit auctions were resumed in August 2016 was fixed on March 2017 (Rub 1,355.3 bln).
It should also be noted that today's auction saw the highest number of banks registered for participation within a new wave of deposit auctions.
