Experience in Developing Early Warning System for Financial Crises and the Forecast of Russian Banking Sector Dynamic in 2012

The article summarizes the key results of researches in the field of early warning systems for financial crises, conducted by the Center for Macroeconomic Analysis and Short-Term Forecasting (CMASF) since 2005. The proposed early warning system consists of three major blocks: the leading indicators of certain types of risks and the composite leading indicator of a systemic banking crisis; the medium-term scenario forecasting of key macroeconomic and financial indicators; stress testing of credit and liquidity risks of banks. On the basis of this early warning system we estimate the risks of financial crisis and some kinds of systemic risks in the different scenarios for the Russian economy in 2012. The analysis, in particular, revealed a sensitivity threshold of the domestic financial sector to changes in the world oil prices. Furthermore, it was found that the greatest destabilizing effect on the Russian financial sector may be caused by systemic credit risk.