Impact of spatial concentration of the Russian banking sector on lending to regions and small and medium businesses

In: Voprosy ėkonomiki: ežemesjačnyj žurnal, Heft 1, S. 92-108

Abstract

The article considers how the spatial concentration of the banking sector in Russia, associated with the formation of an increasingly centralized and state-owned banking system, affects lending in the regions of the country. Foreign research in the field of financial geography indicates that spatial centralization of the banking system may hinder sufficient lending to regions remote from financial centers, as well as small and medium-sized businesses, especially in times of crisis. We analyze these conclusions in relation to Russia in 2010—2017. Centralization of the Russian banking system is largely predetermined by the centralization of the economy as a whole and contributes to the redistribution of credit resources from the capital to the regions of the country, but adequate lending to SMEs is a problem in this situation.