In Mr. Kasyanov’s opinion, the banking sector should grow three times as rapidly as the overall Russian economy. He said the assets of the Russian banking sector were several times less than in industrially developed nations. The total assets of Russian banks make up 40 percent of the country's GDP, while this ratio is 100 percent in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, and it is 400 percent in Western Europe, according to the Prime Minister.

In this respect, he stressed the necessity to work out measures to promote the development of the banking sector. "The banking sector should meet increasing economic demands," Mr. Kasyanov said. He added that control should be tightened in the banking sphere, using the principles of administrative reforms.

The Prime Minister said it was necessary to simplify the procedure of bank mergers and takeovers in the shortest possible time, and to solve the problem of bank consolidation and the problem of the capitalization and stability of banks. According to him, a third of the loans taken out by Russian companies last year were provided by foreigners.

Mr. Kasyanov said the leadership of the Central Bank should discuss the appropriateness of tough control of Russian banks. “Perhaps, we control banks too much,” he remarked.

The Vremya Novostey newspaper comments on the banking sector strategy. The first such strategy was adopted in 2001. The country’s leading banks oversaw the drafting of that document. This year, bankers saw the draft strategy only two weeks ago, and they did not have time to make many amendments.

The main controversial issue is reserve requirements. The strategy does not promise to reduce them, which disappoints bankers. According to the new strategy, the goals set in the previous strategy (adopted in 2001), “have been largely achieved”. However, strictly speaking, this process was slow: the introduction of deposit insurance and international financial reporting standards is only beginning in Russia, and the Central Bank still has stakes in Russian banks abroad.