Regional disparities in the development of banking institutions

详细

This paper presents the results of a study on regional disparities in the spatial distribution of banks between Moscow and federal districts of the Russian Federation as well as federal subjects and their capitals. Three stages of fluctuations in the number of banks in Russian regions are established. The characteristics of each stage, which show the actual institutional transformation of powers of authority, in particular, the role of the state in the banking sector, are identified by a case study of the Siberian Federal District. Such changes involve the elimination of captive banks run by regional authorities and a decrease in the degree of localization of the banking business in Russian regions. A hypothesis on the positive relationship between the economic potential of a region (based on GRP) and localization of regional banks and Moscow bank branches is verified. The features of the present hierarchy among regional financial centers and the factors that explain why such financial centers formed outside the capital are revealed. It is shown that regional financial centers have emerged despite the concentration of financial institutions in Moscow. This means that the features of a capital city are to some degree peculiar to other cities of the country, not just for Moscow.