A round table discussion devoted to the new banking season was held in Yekaterinburg on August 24, 2007. A number of representatives of crediting and non-profit organizations from both Yekaterinburg and Moscow took part in the event. The main point on the agenda covered the issue of the banking crisis. Bankers claimed there was not going to be any crises in the upcoming year. ‘In fact, we expect our business to expand next year,’ SKB-Bank’s Deputy Chairman Alexander Kudryavtsev said. The banking experts support the idea of the banking sector’s stable development; some drastic political and social changes could be the only obstacle to this, but they are not very likely to happen in the near future.

‘Russian banking market is very far from being saturated, so there is no point for the local banks in trying to expand either to the east or to the west,’ Ural Treasures Bank’s CEO Ilya Markov said in response to the question why Russian banks prefer to operate in Russia without setting up subsidiaries abroad. At the same time, regional banks don’t have to worry about the Moscow-based players, since they are still much better at providing indivivudal treatment and promptness of decision-making to thier customers,’ Mr. Markov said.

‘The only banks that will survive in the long run will be the ones capable of selling a standardaized product nicely,’ he added.

Experts also commented on the continuing trend for mergers and takeovers.