Geography and structure of the banking sector: Trends in the world and Russia

Abstract

The article analyzes trends in the evolution of the structure and geography of Russian banking industry. It shows how three types of distances (operational, functional, and those between offices of competing banks) change under the influence of the concentration in banking business and reduction of the number of banks. The authors also provide a typology of regions according to the availability of local banks and non-local branches. We test a well-known hypothesis about the existence of a connection between the structures of the economy and its banking sector and show that the focus of regional banks’ activities in Russia has shifted towards SMEs, but we have not found a correspondence between the structures of regional economies and their banking sectors. The parameters of regional banking systems differ, and although many regions have their own specifics, such differences are not related to the structures of regional economies.