Putin says supports clean-up of Russian banking system

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said he supports the clean-up of the banking system being carried out by the country's central bank.

Speaking at his annual end-of-year news conference, Putin also said that regulation should be eased for smaller banks.

(Reporting by Katya Golubkova, Vladimir Soldatkin and Denis Pinchuk; Writing by Andrey Ostroukh; Editing by Maria Kiselyova)