Sberbank increased net profits by 25.8% in 2006 to Rbs82.8bn ($3.4bn) while expanding Tier 1 capital by 36.2% and total assets by 37.9%. The excellent performance enabled the bank to maintain a very healthy RoE of 30.7% with prospects of further improvement.
The bank maintains its undisputed leadership of the Russian banking sector with a market share of 53.3% in deposits, 37% in retail lending, 31.8% in commercial lending and 25.4% of aggregate total assets. The increased capitalisation through the share issue ensures asset growth, stronger capital adequacy and greater capacity for lending to major corporate customers.
As a result of a focus on improved customer service, Sberbank achieved a 40% growth of commission income in 2006. The national network of 20,000 branches serves 1.3 million corporate and 250 million retail customers. In retail, the bank had issued 20 million cards by June 2007 and 2.1 million cardholders were using mobile banking services via mobile phone, representing 3.3 times growth over the year.
Besides continuing its involvement in the international capital markets with a recent $1.5bn syndicated loan, the largest unsecured loan ever granted to a Russian financial institution, the bank has also acquired a bank in Kazakhstan and is working on a bank acquisition in Ukraine.
“Sberbank is the flagship of the Russian banking sector and the largest bank in central and eastern Europe. Evaluating its 2007 performance, Sberbank takes pride both in its excellent financial results and a record-setting additional share issue,” says chairman Andrei Kazmin. “Sberbank’s SPO proved the largest banking placement ($8.8bn) conducted totally in Russia among a wide number of investors. In capital-raising terms, it came third in the world and second among all Russian issuers in the entire history of public offerings. Share split was another highlight of 2007, helping to increase stock liquidity and attract additional shareholders.”
