Denis Kovalex, the deputy board chairman at DeltaCredit bank, has said that demands for a bailout for foreign currency mortgage holders in Russia cannot be met. 

DeltaCredit is one of Russia’s largest banks, and has a large number of foreign currency mortgage holders who have seen their repayments skyrocket due to the fall in value of the ruble. New lows of the currency to the dollar have been experienced this year, thanks to further falls in global oil prices.

Kovalev said that his bank also borrowed the money in the same currencies, and so any bailout would be a direct loss to the bank.

Protests by mortgage holders have been taking place in Russia for some time, including outside the offices of DeltaCredit who are owned by Societe Generale.

The Kremlin has not been enthusiastic to help. Whereas in Poland and Croatia, banks are aware they will be forced to take some of the losses following the Swiss removal of their currency peg last year.