The strong devaluation of the Russian rouble has caused a shake-up within 2015's top 25 central and eastern European (CEE) banks ranking, which also includes central Asia. While the top three banks have not changed – Sberbank, VTB Bank and Gazprombank – the Tier 1 capital positions of these lenders has decreased significantly.
The exchange rate impact is evident when comparing the underlying rouble-to-US dollar exchange rates in 2015’s ranking with those of last year: $1 cost Rbs56.26 as of the end of 2014 (and therefore used for this year’s ranking), compared with the Rbs32.73 rate used in the 2014 ranking. This, on top of economic difficulties in Russia and the impact of Western sanctions, has caused Sberbank’s capital fall by nearly 35% to $35.7bn, VTB’s by 29% and Gazprombank’s by 36%.