OREANDA-NEWS. October 8, 2009. A further cut in CBR’s refinancing rate by more than 1% could prompt Russia’s largest lender Sberbank to revise retail deposit rates, Sberbank’s spokesperson said Wednesday. However, given the current refinancing rate which stood at 10% as of September 30, Sberbank does not plan to make any change to its interest rate policy, director of retail deposits and investment products of Sberbank Natalia Konovalova said.

“If the refinancing rate is cut by 0.5% in the near future, and by 1% over a month or two, then we will revisit the adequacy of our deposit rates. We will not necessarily cut them, but we will revise them for sure”, Konovalova replied when asked by journalists about the possibility of further interest rate cuts on deposits.