"With regard to non-credit financial organizations, such as licensed securities market participants, non-state pension funds and asset management companies, the Bank of Russia also plans to ease the calculation of prudential standards," the regulator adds.

Also, until December 31, 2022, due to a change in country assessments according to the classification of export credit agencies for the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus, the Central Bank will exclude the use of a risk ratio of 150% for claims in rubles and foreign currency to credit institutions of these countries when calculating standards. A risk factor of 150% will also not be applied to claims against the Republic of Belarus and the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus following a downgrade in their long-term credit rating (under the standard and finalized approaches).

"At the same time, when calculating the amount of market risk for debt securities of Russian banks, the use of a risk ratio of 8% (corresponding to a risk ratio of 100% for the purposes of calculating credit risk) will be retained. For bonds of Russian banks, for which increased ratios are applied when calculating credit risk, according to A risk factor of 12% will still apply.

Until December 31, 2022, the Central Bank will provide banks with the opportunity, when assessing the credit risk of issuers, to form reserves for possible losses and calculate mandatory ratios, in case of limited or non-existent financial information subject to disclosure and (or) provision of up-to-date financial information (and the impossibility of obtaining it bilaterally under non-disclosure agreements), use data as of July 1, 2021. As specified, this is possible provided there are no signs of default, bankruptcy and other negative information about the financial condition and solvency of the issuer.

The regulator is also easing the structural liquidity ratio (net stable funding ratio) N28 (N29) to preserve the ability of systemically important credit institutions to lend to the economy in the face of changes in the structure and maturity of liabilities, as well as the blocking of certain assets. Until December 31, 2022, the Central Bank will not apply measures if the decrease in the actual value of the ratio below the minimum allowable occurred as a result of an increase in the imbalance between sources of stable funding and long-term assets, caused, among other things, by a change in the resource base, blocking (unavailability) of assets or deterioration in their quality, prolongation of loans and other similar factors.

In addition, in view of the difficult economic situation, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation recommends deferring from dividend payout in 2022 to banks as well as non-banks.

The regulator also reminded banks that in the current conditions, non-compliance with capital adequacy markups is allowed. "This is not a non-compliance with the regulations, but the bank must limit the payment of dividends and bonuses to management. In case of non-compliance with allowances, the bank must also draw up and submit to the Bank of Russia a simplified plan for restoring the amount of capital, indicating a specific list of measures," the Central Bank explains.

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