Moscow — Russia’s biggest bank, Sberbank, expects record profits in 2023, CEO German Gref said on Tuesday, recovering from a 75% drop last year when Western sanctions hammered the financial sector.
“This year is likely to be the most successful of the entire period … We expect record profits, and for the banking sector too,” Gref told a press conference. Next year is hard to predict, he said, but the bank is hoping for “very good results, record numbers”.
However, against the background of rising interest rates, it sees a slight decrease in corporate lending and a significant slowdown in retail. Gref did not spell out how Sberbank plans to counter those trends.
Sberbank reported record annual net profit for 2021 of 1.25-trillion roubles ($13.5bn), but the 2022 figure fell to 300-billion roubles as sanctions over the Ukraine conflict forced it to quit Western markets and cut off its access to the Swift international payments system.
Gref said Sberbank does not expect major changes to its dividend policy, which it will approve on December 5.
In common with other big Russian companies, the bank did not pay out a 2021 dividend last year on the recommendation of the central bank and government, but it announced a record 565-billion rouble payout in March.
Gref, in charge of the bank since 2007, said the supervisory board has extended his powers for a new term.
He said he expects the rouble, which on Tuesday was trading at about 92.40 to the dollar, to be stable at about 90 for the rest of the year. He noted that the supply of foreign currency on the market is growing due to a decree from President Vladimir Putin on the mandatory sale of proceeds by exporters.
“The rouble has strengthened, and a number of factors continue to support the rouble, so the trend is more likely to strengthen than to weaken,” he said.
Reuters
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