Financial Stability
Financial stability is the resilience of the financial system to shocks and its smooth and effective operation.
As in most countries, financial stability in Russia is ensured by the central bank. This function is set forth in Article 3 of Federal Law No.
If the financial system accumulates vulnerabilities, it might adversely affect economic growth potential when performing its functions. One example of these vulnerabilities is financial bubbles associated with both accelerated growth of asset prices and overexpansion of lending, which might lead to excessive debt burden of households and companies. Vulnerabilities can amplify negative consequences resulting from shocks, e.g. a pandemic, a sharp decline in oil prices, or sanctions, and cause larger losses in the financial system. Unlike vulnerabilities, shocks are difficult to predict. Coupled with significant vulnerabilities, a shock can disrupt the financial system.
The Bank of Russia carries out regular monitoring of systemic risks (of financial institutions, financial market infrastructures, major non-financial companies, development institutions, and the shadow banking system) and assesses the stability of financial system entities, including through stress testing. Furthermore, to identify and monitor financial stability vulnerabilities, the Bank of Russia uses a panel of systemic risk indicators including a number of predictive measures, which signal risk accumulation in advance.
The Bank of Russia publishes the Financial Stability Review twice a year and the Financial Market Risks Review every month (except January). These materials describe the vulnerabilities of the financial system, analyse potential shocks, and assess financial institutions’ resilience to these vulnerabilities and shocks.
To limit risks and ensure the stability of the financial system, the Bank of Russia implements macroprudential policy using a wide range of instruments and regularly broadens and enhances this toolset.
In 2025, the Bank of Russia considerably expanded the range of its macroprudential policy instruments. To show how all these instruments work in synergy, the Bank of Russia released the report Main Macroprudential Policy Approaches, which systematises the main principles of their use, taking into account the experience accumulated since 2013.
In addition, the Bank of Russia oversees central counterparties (CCPs), payment systems, and systemically important financial market infrastructures (SIFMIs) recognised as such by the regulator, i.e. central and settlement depositories and repositories.