Macroprudential policy instruments
Macroprudential policy minimises the probability of financial crises, prevents bubbles in the market, and mitigates the consequences of shocks for the economy.
Macroprudential instruments are employed to achieve two main objectives:
- To reduce the vulnerability of the financial system (e.g. caused by an increase in households’ debt burden or a weakening of lending standards).
To meet this objective, since 2023, the regulator has been actively using macroprudential limits, which directly restrict the proportion of unsecured consumer loans (microloans) issued over a quarter to borrowers with a high debt service-to-income ratio (DSTI). From 1 July 2025, macroprudential limits are also set for mortgages and car loans. - To ensure the financial system’s resilience to possible future shocks.
Specifically, since 2013, the Bank of Russia has been applying sectoral risk-weight add-ons (macroprudential add-ons) to certain types of assets. This means that banks are required to ‘freeze’ a certain amount of their funds in order to be able to cover losses and continue lending to the economy even in a challenging economic situation. The Bank of Russia also employs the national countercyclical buffer (CCyB).
Main macroprudential instruments:
| Macroprudential add-ons | Macroprudential limits | CCyB | |
| Mechanism |
Higher capital requirements |
Direct quantitative restrictions on new retail loans with specific properties |
Higher capital requirements |
| Scope | New loans with specific characteristics, differentiated by risk level | New retail loans differentiated by risk level | Risk-weighted assets |
| Purpose | To build up a capital buffer to cover potential credit losses under stress conditions, by risk level | To limit households’ over-indebtedness and foster a more balanced structure of retail lending | To build up a capital buffer to cover potential increased losses on assets under stress conditions |
In 2025, the Bank of Russia published a report detailing how all macroprudential policy measures work in synergy and outlining the main principles of their application, taking into account the experience accumulated since 2013.
Risk-weight add-ons
Macroprudential add-ons are the first macroprudential instrument to appear in the Bank of Russia’s toolset. As early as 2013, the regulator started applying higher capital requirements to limit risky consumer lending. In 2018, the Bank of Russia was authorised to change capital requirements for risky loans through macroprudential add-ons, which are set by its Board of Directors.
Macroprudential limits
Macroprudential limits (MPLs) directly influence the structure of retail lending by restricting the share of risky loans (microloans) in total disbursements. The Bank of Russia sets MPLs for retail loans (microloans) issued by credit institutions and microfinance organisations.
MPLs are applied to maintain a balanced structure of lending and limit households’ over-indebtedness.
National countercyclical buffer
In Russian macroprudential regulation, the countercyclical capital buffer is referred to as the national countercyclical buffer (CCyB).
The Bank of Russia establishes the level of the CCyB to capital adequacy ratios for banks to maintain additional capital buffers that they will be able to use in times of crises.
The Bank of Russia extensively applies macroprudential add-ons as part of its countercyclical policy. Higher risk weights for certain credit claims increase banks’ capital buffers needed to cover possible losses. Banks may use these buffers during crisis periods.
Capital requirements in the consumer segment are gradually tightened to limit risks during lending expansion periods and have already been eased several times (in 2020 and 2022) to support banks during crises.
According to the analysis of the effect of the implemented measures on the growth rates and structure of lending, the differentiation of the add-ons promotes shifts in the lending structure towards less risky segments (lower DSTI and higher down payments in mortgage lending). Nevertheless, MPLs are a more effective tool to foster a sound lending structure.
Risk characteristics to apply macroprudential instruments
To apply macroprudential instruments in accordance with Bank of Russia regulations, banks calculate various borrower risk metrics, including DSTI, the effective interest rate (EIR) on a loan, the loan-to-value (LTV) ratio for mortgages, etc. For major corporate borrowers, banks are required to calculate the interest coverage ratio (ICR) based on operating income before depreciation and amortisation.