Deposits Cool Off: Three-Month Rates at Russia's Top-20 Banks Fall Below 17%

The average rate on three-month deposits at the largest banks in Russia has fallen below 17% per annum for the first time since September 2024, sliding to 16.94%. The press office of the Finuslugi financial marketplace announced the decline on July 29, 2025.

Deposit yields are following the key rate: on Friday, July 25, 2025, the Bank of Russia's board of directors cut it by a full 2 percentage points, to 18% per annum. Banks began pricing the move into their product lines in advance — according to the marketplace, the average rate on three-month deposits slipped below 18% as early as mid-month.

How fast deposits are losing yield: the July tally

“Banks continue to actively cut rates across their entire line of deposit products, and the yield on short-term deposits is changing rapidly,” Finuslugi said in its statement published on Tuesday. The average three-month deposit rate at the top-20 banks by retail deposit portfolio reached its lowest level since September 2024.

• three-month deposits — 16.94% per annum, down 1.71 pp over incomplete July;
• six-month deposits — 16.07%, down 1.89 pp;
• twelve-month deposits — 15.17%, down 1.90 pp.

Since the Bank of Russia's meeting on July 25 alone, the average rates “lost” 0.34 pp, 0.36 pp and 0.40 pp across the three tenors. In other words, about a fifth of the entire July decline came in the final days of the month, as banks rewrote their terms after the regulator's decision. The full picture was carried by the Prime news agency.

What the rate slide means for savers

The key signal of July is the speed of the deposit repricing. Rates are falling not only in the wake of the key-rate decision but also on expectations: banks removed more than 1.3 pp from each of the three tenors before the July 25 meeting even took place. For deposit holders, that narrows the window for locking in yields above 16–17% per annum — a rollover or a new deposit will almost certainly be opened at a lower rate.

The rate curve telegraphs the market's expectations

The yield structure remains downward-sloping: the longer the tenor, the lower the rate — 16.94% per annum for three months versus 15.17% for a year. That shape means banks expect further monetary easing and are unwilling to pay up for long-dated funding. The practical takeaway for savers: fixing a twelve-month rate today yields less than current short-term offers, but insulates it from the regulator's next moves down.

What to watch next

The trajectory from here will depend on the path of the key rate and inflation expectations. For now, the trend is unambiguous: over incomplete July, average yields on all three tenors lost 1.7–1.9 pp, and the three-month benchmark fell to a level unseen in almost a year. For banks, cheaper deposits reduce funding costs; for households, they gradually erode the appeal of the pure savings model in favour of alternative instruments.