ASSESSING THE AVAILABILITY OF BANKING SERVICES IN RUSSIA: A REGIONAL ASPECT

Abstract

Introduction. The sustainable development of the financial sector in any country creates favorable conditions for economic development and improving the life quality of the population. In Russia, in recent years, in order to improve the efficiency of their activities, credit institutions have greatly reduced their physical presence in settlements, and regional banks with a wide network have become very rare. As a result, the opportunities for businesses and citizens to receive financial services have been limited. This requires an assessment of the financial services availability, which is the purpose of the study. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to assess the financial accessibility of banking services in the Russian Federation. Methods. The study is based on using the data from Rosstat and the Bank of Russia. During the research, the author uses logical techniques, systematic and critical approaches, methods of economic and statistical analysis. The study was conducted in the context of federal districts. The scientific novelty of the study. The author identifies the defects in the methodological approach used by the Bank of Russia to assess the availability of financial services in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation. The author proposes and tests a system of indicators for conducting such an assessment. Its advantage is that only relative indicators are used, which allows for cross-regional comparisons. Results and conclusions. The results obtained differ greatly from the estimates of the Bank of Russia, according to which the highest level of infrastructure development for the provision of financial services is characteristic of the North Caucasus Federal District, in which, as established during the analysis, the lowest indicators of provision of elements of financial infrastructure, taking into account the population, as well as the lowest indicators of Internet use in the country. According to our estimates, the greatest availability of financial services is in the Central Federal District, which, according to the estimates of the Bank of Russia, occupies the penultimate place. The reduction in the network of credit institutions observed in the country has a negative impact on the activities of enterprises and the life quality of people. With the current level of financial services digitalization, it is necessary to maintain the physical presence of credit institutions in the regions, for which special measures should be taken by the financial regulator. Given the very high profitability of financial activities in Russia, this will not pose a threat to the weakening of the banking sector.