Russian banks see record outflow of $12.3 bln in Q3

Russian banks saw a record $12.3 billion outflow of funds from accounts held by individuals in cross-border transactions in the third quarter of 2011, Kommersant business daily said on Wednesday, citing Central Bank data. That was more than individals transferred out of Russian banks at the height of the financial crisis in 2008: $11.1 billion in the third quarter and $11.4 billion in the fourth. The outflow in the latest quarter was 38 percent higher than in the third quarter of 2010 and 64 percent higher than in the third quarter of 2009. Kommersant said the increase was due to external factors and, for the second half of 2011, to political uncertainty in Russia, which held parliamentary elections in December and will hold presidential elections in March 2012. Russia's net capital outflow totaled $74 billion through the first eleven months of 2011, including $10 billion in November, according to Central Bank data.