Central Bank of Russia plans to tighten requirements for banks' assessment of companies' financial position in 2026-2027

MOSCOW. March 5 (Interfax) - The Central Bank of Russia in Q3 2026 plans to limit banks' use of expert judgment and other material factors when assessing large problem loans, CBR Governor Elvira Nabiullina said at the Central Bank's annual meeting with bankers.

"For example, currently banks can incorporate assumptions about state support for the borrower into their assessments, even if there are insufficient grounds for this. At the same time, we are going to allow the consideration of more objective indicators; for example, the actual cash flows of borrowers, so that the reserve reflects that part of the debt for which such flows are insufficient to service," she said.

In addition, in 2027, the Central Bank plans to prohibit banks from recognizing the financial position of a borrower as good or average if the company is heavily loaded with debt, and also to introduce an obligation for banks when analyzing a borrower's debt burden to take into account guarantees issued by it in favor of other companies.

Nabiullina also stated the need to solve the problem of increased credit concentration at the level of individual banks.

"Unfortunately, banks themselves are in no hurry to independently reduce this level of concentration, although we constantly remind them of the risks. Of course, we understand that reducing the level of concentration requires a complex dialogue with clients, with large clients. This is not an easy process, but nevertheless, we believe this needs to be done," she said.

In the coming months, the Central Bank will present the final concept for regulating concentration. "Our goal here is unchanged. We have already announced and explained it more than once: so that in a few years, no bank has credit exposures exceeding 25% of capital," she said.