The road has been rocky for Russian banks of late. Total profits across Russia’s Top 100 banks by Tier 1 capital (for the financial year ending December 2013 and using the exchange rate at December 31) dropped to $26.9bn, from $29.2bn at the close of 2012 – before any impact from the 2014 rouble exchange rate slump or international sanctions imposed on Russia were felt.
Aggregate Tier 1 capital among the top 100 banks increased to $132.75bn for 2013 from $120.88bn in 2012, which, coupled with the lower profits, also caused the aggregate return on Tier 1 capital to come out lower than in The Banker's previous ranking – by 3.9 percentage points at 20.3%.
