Sverdlovsk Region has for a long time remained Ural Federal District’s leading area in terms of the number of operating banks: there are currently twenty-five of them in the region, according to the Central Bank’s report as of March 1, 2008. Tyumen Region, with its twenty-three banks, and Khanty-Mansiyskiy Autonomous Region, with its twelve banks, are the district’s second and third most developed regions in terms of banks’ presence. Sverdlovsk Region is only outstripped by Moscow, with its 554 banks, Saint Petersburg, with its forty-one banks, Dagestan, with its thirty-three banks, and Tatarstan, with its twenty-six banks.

Overall, the total number of the country’s functioning banks decreased from 1,136 to 1,134 banks in the first two months of the year, while the number of banks’ subsidiaries reached 3,482 outlets on March 1, 2008 (which is 27 outlets more than in January 2008). At the moment, Russian banks have 774 representations and 19,425 offices altogether.

Like in the past, the banks are trying to expand geographically this year. SKB-Bank, for instance, intends to set up subsidiaries in fifteen Russian regions throughout the whole country, from Kaliningrad to Khabarovsk.

This growth of banks’ subsidiaries and extra offices alongside with the drop in the number of banks themselves can serve as an indicator of qualitative rather then quantitative growth of Russian banking system as a whole.