Russia's central bank traces its roots to a tsarist bank founded in 1860
The Bank of Russia dates officially from July 1990, when the Soviet Union was still standing, yet it claims descent from the State Bank of the Russian Empire founded in 1860. It marked that 150-year lineage in 2010 with a commemorative gold coin weighing five kilograms.
The bank was created in a hurry during the Soviet collapse. After the Russian republic declared sovereignty in June 1990, it ordered a central bank of its own under Georgy Matyukhin, who took over the local branches of the Soviet State Bank and brought them under the new institution. Formal establishment came on 13 July 1990, a full statute that December, and a charter in June 1991. From 1992 it began trading foreign currency on an exchange market it had set up and publishing official exchange rates against the ruble.
Its headquarters sit on Neglinnaya Street in Moscow, and Article 75 of the Russian constitution defines it as an independent body whose main duty is keeping the ruble stable. It alone may issue ruble notes and coins, produced through the Moscow and St. Petersburg mints and Goznak, and it also issues commemorative and investment coins in precious metals. Half of its profit must by law go to the federal budget, and it holds a 57.58 per cent stake in Sberbank, the country's leading commercial bank.
Its remit grew sharply in 2013. Until 1 September that year it chiefly regulated banks, handling licences, operating rules, accounting standards and last-resort lending. After that date it became a mega-regulator covering all of Russia's financial markets. It also runs consumer work: a financial literacy project called Fincult, and, with the search engine Yandex from 2017, a green tick in search results confirming that a website belongs to a company it has licensed, an effort to stop phishing.
The governor is chosen by the Russian president for a four-year term and can be reappointed. Sergey Ignatyev held the post for 11 years across three appointments, the longest tenure in post-Soviet Russia.
Source: Central Bank of Russia
