Russian banks lost 198 billion rubles ($6.5 billion) on equity and bond markets last year, the Central Bank said Tuesday, describing the losses as "moderate" in a year when the country's benchmark stock index fell 17 percent.
Banks lost 33 billion rubles on stocks and another 165 billion from bond investments, but the sector as a whole still turned a profit of 848 billion rubles, Central Bank figures showed.
Stock and bond holdings accounted for about 13.4 percent of total banking assets.
(Reuters)
