Savers queue for their money in Russian bank panic

A crisis of confidence in Russia’s banking market spread today to one of Russia’s largest banks as dozens of customers rushed to retrieve their savings only to find that they had to wait in Soviet-style queues and pay a 10% penalty.

The management of Alfa Bank has insisted that the bank was secure and that it was flush with cash and the Central Bank also said it saw no problems with Alfa Bank, but that did not reassure Alfa’s customers, some of whom spent their second day queuing today.