(Adds detail on corporate credit, OFZ)
MOSCOW, Feb 20 (Reuters) - Russian banks' profits
totalled 258 billion roubles ($3.38 billion) in January, 1.5
times higher than in the same month of 2022, Russia's central
bank said on Monday.
Alexander Danilov, director of the central bank's banking
regulation and analytics department, said last month Russian
banks' profits could exceed 1 trillion roubles in 2023.
Banks' corporate credit portfolio shrank by 140 billion
roubles in January, while their forex portfolio grew by 0.3%,
the Bank of Russia said.
Banks gradually increased investments in OFZ treasury bonds
in the same month, buying around two-thirds of bonds on offer,
it added.
($1 = 76.2455 roubles)
(Reporting by Elena Fabrichnaya and Alexander Marrow; Writing
by Marina Bobrova; Editing by Jan Harvey)
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