Mixed fortunes among Russian institutions have impacted the central and eastern Europe (CEE) regional ranking in 2018. Still, Tier 1 capital across the region’s top 25 banks rose by about $31.48bn to $145.88bn as all but two banks increased their capitalisation.
The odd ones out were Otkritie Financial Corporation Bank, a systemically important institution in Russia and the sixth largest bank by capitalisation in the 2017 CEE ranking, which was bailed out by the state and nationalised in August 2017; and B&M Bank (14th in the 2017 CEE ranking) was also nationalised, only a month after Otkritie. The two lenders’ capital plunged by about $2.41bn and $159m, respectively, seeing the institutions fall to 16th and 18th positions regionally. Otkritie’s new management is working on a merger between the two banks.