FRANKFURT, March 20: The European Central Bank launched a three-year programme with the Bank of Russia on Thursday aimed at boosting cooperation in bank supervision and auditing.

“The banking supervision component of the programme will aim at enhancing the institutional capacity of the Bank of Russia to maintain the stability of the Russian banking system,” an ECB statement said.

It was to focus on helping Russian banks meet so-called Basel II criteria that are designed to improve the consistency of capital reserve rules and promote better risk-management practices by global banking institutions.—AFP