MOSCOW, July 7 (RIA Novosti, Yelena Fedorova, Yelena Orekhova) - The State Duma, the lower house of the Russian parliament, and the Association of Russian Banks do not believe a new financial crisis in the country is possible.
"In my view, there is no sign of an approaching banking sector crisis," Anatoly Aksakov, the deputy head of the Duma's committee on lending organizations and financial markets, said in response to media reports.
Aksakov said some banks had already overcome a liquidity problem. "In fact, there was an acute problem with liquidity, which was due to the need to pay taxes," said the expert. "Many companies accumulated funds to pay taxes, [but] the problem has been resolved already."
He said recent stock market developments testified to the positive liquidity situation.
"There is a growing demand for securities, and stock market quotations are also rising, which shows there is enough liquidity being put toward asset acquisition," Aksakov said.
The expert recalled a decline in liquidity on the stock market last year was a sign of a growing crisis of confidence on the interbank market. "Last year's crisis was accompanied by a decline of liquidity on the stock market," he said.
Garegin Tosunyan, the chairman of the Association of Russian Banks, said suggestions of a possible banking crisis had been "spun out of thin air."
"The market is functioning as usual, and there are no reasons to worry," Tosunyan said.
The association chairman continued that a rise in interest rates was obviously due to greater demand for the ruble, which was traditional at the end of a quarter, and a considerable inflow of hard currency into the country.
"Certain fluctuations on the interbank market, purchasing rate fluctuations are natural phenomena," Tosunyan said. "The current ruble shortage is due to a significant inflow of foreign currency into the country. Currency is sold, which results in a shortage of rubles."
Tosunyan said certain events on the interbank market were due to a complicated policy pursued by a number of major banks that were unwilling to work with smaller banks. "But this points to plenty of opportunities to attract funds, rather than a lack of confidence," the association chairman said.
"This shows the market players have plenty of opportunities to earn money," Tosunyan said. "Every bank works on its own market: large banks have their market, medium-sized banks are active on their own and small banks on their own'" he said.
"There is absolutely no reason to be hysterical," Tosunyan said.
