Abstract. The article considers current status and trends of Russian-Chinese cooperation in the banking sector. Firstly, it examines scope of activities and main results of specialized inter-state mechanism of deepening inter-bank cooperation between Russia and China. Secondly, a detailed analysis of Chinese banking institutions’ operations in the Russian market is given. The author points out that until now the main reasons for the Chinese banks’ activities in the Russian market have political nature while purely commercial considerations are of secondary importance. The client base mainly consists of Chinese companies and enterprises doing their business in Russia. The revenues of Chinese banks here are primarily generated by interest income. Chinese banks demonstrate low-key approach to searching of new and expansion of existing areas of their business. There is no evidence of major expansion in investment and lending to local businesses, deepening work in the retail sector, etc. Chinese banks retain limited geographical presence in Russia. Thirdly, the scope and trends of Russian banks’ activities in China are analyzed. The author explains extremely weak presence of Russian banks in China (including Hong Kong) and lack of dynamism in their operations in the local market. The key problems are singled out. Mostly, they are determined by the specifics of the Chinese banking sector functioning. In particular, tangible complexity persists in attracting funding from Chinese banks. The documentary operations (letters of credit, factoring) are not yet actively used in the work with the Chinese market. The commercial incentives to work with China remain small for the Russian banks. A general conclusion is drawn that in short term one should not expect any serious penetration of Russian banks into the PRC.