By Muhammed Ali Gurtas
ANKARA (AA) - Russia's banking sector's net profit amounted to 790 billion rubles (around $13.5 billion) last year, according to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation on Thursday.
Russian banks annual profit in 2017 fell 15 percent, compared to 930 billion rubles (some $13.8 billion) net profit in the previous year, official data showed.
As of the end of last year, the total assets of the country's banking sector were nearly 85.2 trillion Russian rubles ($1.45 trillion), rising 6.4 percent year-on-year.
Loans, which is the biggest sub-category of assets, stood at around 58 trillion rubles ($994 billion) at the end of 2017, compared to some 55.6 trillion rubles ($829 billion) of loans at the end of 2016.
Clients' funds, as the main item under liabilities, amounted to nearly 53.7 trillion rubles ($918 billion) at the end of last year, indicating a 7.4 percent rise on a yearly basis.
The U.S. dollar/Russian ruble exchange rate was 58.48 on average last year, while the average USD/RUB rate was 67.07 in 2016.