Russian credit institutions closed 1,370 bank offices across the country between January and August 2026, putting the financial sector on course for a record number of closures by the end of the year.
Data from the Bank of Russia, reported by Russian newspaper Izvestia, shows that lenders shut an average of roughly 196 branches each month during the eight-month period.
If branch closures maintain this monthly pace through December, the total number of liquidated offices will surpass 2,000 by the end of 2026. Financial analysts note that reaching that figure would mark the highest annual reduction in Russian banking branches since record-keeping began.
The current rate of branch closures is the highest recorded for the January-to-August timeframe in several recent years. The previous record for this eight-month period occurred in 2021, when credit institutions shut 894 offices. Total branch liquidations reached 1,588 across the full year in 2021 and 1,631 in 2022.
Shift to digital banking
Dmitry Gritskevich, manager of banking and financial market analysis at PSB, cited changing consumer behavior as the primary driver behind the rapid downsizing of physical branch networks.
Gritskevich said that most standard financial operations can now be completed through mobile applications and digital banking services. As a result, customers only need to visit physical offices for certain complex financial transactions or to handle physical cash.
PSB, also known as Promsvyazbank, is a major state-owned commercial bank in Russia. The Bank of Russia operates as the country's central bank and primary financial market regulator, overseeing monetary policy and commercial banking operations from its headquarters in Moscow.
Central bank borrowing figures
The branch reductions follow earlier reports detailing wider financial and liquidity movements within the Russian banking sector.
As of August 13, the difference between the funds that credit institutions borrowed from the Bank of Russia and the money they held in central bank deposits and correspondent accounts exceeded 2.7 trillion rubles.
The gap represents the widest margin between commercial bank borrowings and deposit reserves recorded in Russia since March 2022.
