Elvira Sitnikova’s research while affiliated with South-West State University and other places

Importance of this research is due to the fact that the banking sector is the most important driver of dissemination and development of innovations in the financial environment. Banks improve business models and are active users of technological innovations, which allow them to raise the efficiency of operation activities, increase competitive advantages, and accelerate and cheapen the processes of interaction with customers. In the short-term, the volumes of use of financial technologies will be growing annually, which will lead to emergence of new technological solutions and will become a factor of acceleration of the national economy’s digital transformation. The purpose of this study is to determine the main tendencies of digitalization of banking activities in the Russian economy and to substantiate the practical aspects of implementing the modern digital technologies in the financial sector. The task of this research is to determine the rates and directions of digital technologies’ development in the national banking environment at the level of the macro-regulator—the Bank of Russia—and at the level of commercial banks. The main results of the research have been obtained with the help of statistical, calculation and constructive, and monographic methods, the method of scientific abstraction, economic analysis, and selective observation. The performed research allowed determining the main directions of banking activities’ digitalization and evaluating the practical aspects of using digital services for the purpose of doing business and organization of everyday life. The use of the modern digital solutions in the financial sector is characterized by large diversity, and the banking sphere demonstrates high susceptibility to innovations. The use of new technologies in the financial sector leads to the large reduction of transaction costs, raises the opportunities to receive immediate information on bank products and services, expands the range of digital services, and involves more participants of the financial market.

The functioning of the banking sector of the economy in the world is characterized by a decrease in its capital intensity due to a decrease in the concentration of foreign capital, a deterioration in the quality of the loan portfolio, an outflow of urgent deposit resources and the receipt of significant losses by banking institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic. Taking into account the current trends in the spread of the virus, the development and implementation of fundamentally new approaches to anti-crisis management in the banking sector of both the world economy and Russia is of great importance today. The COVID-19 pandemic came as a big shock to the global and European economies. While banks are not hit by the pandemic as directly as other retail institutions, they are in the public eye as they provide funding to corporations and individuals. Their stability is crucial for maintaining the efficiency of the entire economic system, not only of a particular country, but also of the world. Currently, the need for a comprehensive study of the competitiveness of a commercial bank is determined by the objective modern conditions of the life of banks operating in a competitive environment. The article proposes the author’s methodology for assessing the competitiveness of a commercial bank, which includes five groups of indicators, which makes it possible to identify not only problematic, but also stable areas of activity. The proposed method for calculating the integral indicator for assessing the competitiveness of a commercial bank has been tested on the example of Russian Agricultural Bank and Sberbank, and a set of measures has been developed to increase the level of competitiveness of a commercial bank.

Currently, in difficult epidemiological conditions, there are significant changes in all spheres of human life. Also, the negative impact of the coronavirus epidemic (COVID-19) was not spared by such a significant area for humanity as a mortgage. Mortgage activity has undergone significant changes in the context of the pandemic, especially under the influence of negative factors. However, despite the difficult epidemiological conditions, the Government of the Russian Federation proposed supportive measures and provided assistance to citizens who found themselves in a difficult situation. The article analyzes the trend in the development of mortgage lending, determines the dynamics of the volume of housing mortgage lending provided by credit institutions to individuals, reveals the interdependence between the number of loans issued and the mortgage rate, examines the impact of overdue debt on mortgage loans on the efficiency of a credit institution. The article examines the activities of the leader in mortgage lending Sberbank. The authors proposed measures to improve the efficiency of mortgage lending development in the activities of Sberbank.

The paper focuses on the results of a study proving that the commercial bank’s sustainability is ensured by the quality of its assets and liabilities, liquidity, and profitability. The main indicators were determined, and the aggregated financial sustainability indicator was proposed. The type of financial sustainability of commercial banks is determined based on this indicator. Due to the developed unified methodological approach, measures are being developed to increase the efficiency of a commercial bank.

Retail lending due to a number of reasons holds a special place in the general system of credit relations and plays an important role in the modern free market economy. Being a dynamically developing segment of banking business, retail lending is considered as an important part of the entire system of credit relations within the framework of the present study. Our study has revealed that retail lending is treated ambiguously. In this connection, our article proposes the authors' approach to the definition of this phenomenon. Using general and special research methods, we have undertaken the comprehensive analysis of retail lending development as one of priority business areas of a commercial bank; there have been revealed the influence of international financial processes on the development of this segment and defined the main aspects of its development in Russia. Monitoring of retail lending market and the use of forecasting techniques has allowed us to specify the future directions of its formation and to form a complex of strategic measures to enhance its impact on the Russian economy.