It is believed that investing money in a bank is the most stable way to ensure the safety of savings. Particular attention should be paid to the choice of a bank for opening a deposit. After all, it is very important that it be reliable and stable.
When choosing a reliable bank, several criteria must be taken into account. Among them: the availability of licenses, financial stability, work experience, positions in the ratings.
Availability of a license and participation in the deposit insurance system
The bank must have a valid banking license. They are issued by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation. You can find information about the selected bank on the Central Bank's website in the section "Information on Credit Institutions" through the search form or in alphabetical order.
Pay attention not only to the availability and validity of the license, but also the date the bank was entered into the register (credit state register, KGR). Banks formed before the 1998 default must have well-functioning mechanisms for working in crisis conditions. Although it is impossible to exaggerate the importance of the bank's experience. For example, Investbank, which was recently revoked from its license, was founded back in 1989.
Any bank that accepts deposits from the population must be part of the deposit insurance system. Information about it should be contained on the website of the Deposit Insurance Agency. The bank's entry into the insurance system will ensure that the state returns your deposit up to 700 thousand rubles.
Financial performance and share capital structure
Financial stability is one of the criteria attesting to the reliability of the bank. Fortunately, for borrowers, most banks operate in the form of JSCs. This means that they are required to publish financial statements in the public domain.
The larger the bank, the more likely it is that the state will support it and reorganize the bank in the event of a crisis. The size of the bank can be judged on the basis of its authorized capital and the amount of assets. You can look at the bank's position according to these indicators on portals dedicated to financial or banking topics (for example, Banks.ru or RBC). It is possible to indirectly estimate the size of the bank on the basis of the number of branches in the country.
When studying financial indicators, special attention should be paid to the dynamics of profits and losses, profitability, the amount of working capital.
The financial report should also contain information about the key shareholders of the bank. The presence in the share capital of state participation or large corporations makes the bank more reliable. Whereas the concentration of large packages in the hands of individuals increases the risks of instability in crisis situations.
Please also note that ultra-high deposit rates are not always a good signal and may indicate problems with liquidity.
Bank ratings
It is far from superfluous to read reviews about banks on the forums, look at independent ratings of the reliability of banks, including those from international rating agencies. But you should not overestimate their importance, because they can be made up in someone's opportunistic interests.
At the beginning of this year, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation was supposed to draw up a list of systemically important banks that are of decisive importance for the stability of the Russian banking sector. However, this information did not appear in the public domain, since the Central Bank was afraid of panic among depositors. But the criteria are known, on the basis of which banks can be included in this list. These are the size of assets (an indicator with a specific weight of 50% in the rating), the volume of deposits (25%), the role in the interbank market (12.5%) and the relationship with other organizations (12.5%). Therefore, the leading banks in terms of assets can be perceived as more reliable.
At the end of 2013, the Government published its version of the most stable banks and financially stable banks, which included 51 organizations. It is in these banks that operators of electronic platforms should open accounts to secure applications for public procurement. When choosing a reliable bank, you can focus on it.
