Putin was speaking at a Kremlin conference on the prospects for the development of the Russian banking system.
The conference also involved current First Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev, set to replace Putin on May 7 as Russian president, Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov, Kremlin administration chief Sergei Sobyanin, Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, a number of other ministers, and the heads of the country's largest banks.
"The banking sector's assets increased by more than 44% to exceed 20 trillion rubles ($846 billion). Banking capital rose even more by 57.9% to 2.7 trillion rubles ($114 billion) [in 2007]," Putin said, describing this as an indication of the stability of the country's banking system.
The president labeled as "quite tangible" the role Russian banks have been playing in encouraging economic growth.
"Retail and corporate loans accounted for 37.3% of GDP, with the share of bank loans in the financing of investments going up from 6.4% to 11% since 2004," Putin said.
The Russian leader also pointed out the enhanced confidence in banks on the part of the business world, as well as ordinary citizens.
Putin also urged the effective and rational use of the solid financial reserves accumulated by the government and the banking sector to boost further banks' development and enhance lending mechanisms for backing up economic growth.
