In Soviet Russia, bank withdraw from you

A Russian friend once told me a joke she heard in Moscow in the early 90s.  Most of the jokes she told me do not translate very well, but this one does, I think.

A man goes into a bank and says to the teller, “I would like to open an account.  Who should I see?”

“A psychiatrist.”

Russian Banking System Teetering, Accelerated Withdrawals Underway

Globex on Wednesday banned depositors from withdrawing their money as confidence in the Russian banking system began to show signs of evaporating.

Globex, a mid-sized retail bank with assets of $4bn (€2.95bn, £2.32bn), is the first Russian bank to experience a run on deposits during the crisis. It lost 13 per cent of its deposits last month, according to Maxim Raskosnov, an analyst at Renaissance capital, and a further 15 per cent this month according to Emilya Alieva, Globex’s vice-president.

At least a dozen other Russian banks have reported a sharp rise in withdrawals and account closures.

Seems a story worth following.

Leave a Reply