With Russia now officially cut off from both the USDollar and the euro, Russia’s VTB Bank is seeing a surge in Chinese Yuan deposits, attracted by the bank offering significantly higher interest rates as Putin shifts focus to ‘friendly’ nations.
The state-owned bank is offering a Chinese yuan savings account with a maximum interest rate of 8%, hailing the currency as “one of the most affordable and promising options for investing funds” after the country was hit by Western sanctions.
Putting that in context, the three-month deposit rate is 8% in dollars and 7% in euros, while the six-month rate for ruble deposits is 21%, according to VTB.
Existing customers are reportedly able to open deposits remotely on VTB Online with a minimum amount of 100 yuan ($16). At VTB branches, they can deposit a minimum of 500 yuan. VTB also said that over the past week customers have placed more than 2 trillion rubles ($15 billion) in traditional savings products.
www.zerohedge.com/markets/yuan-deposits-soar-russian-banks-after-swift-cut