Page 73 - RusRPTSept19

good month for retail lending with 1.4% growth in July, BCS notes.
This week a report by Moody's Investors Service showed that Sberbank trails behind other major state BRICS banks in terms of macro profile and loan portfolio quality, but is the most profitable.
8.1.8 Bank news
Russia’s Post bank (Pochta Bank) has signed a new deal with a leading Russian supermarket chain Magnit to open branches in its stores, the company said on August 8. The Post Bank has already signed a deal with Magnit’s main rival Pyaterochka that is owned by the X5 Retail Group overtook Magnit last year to become Russia’s biggest supermarket chain. Long in the making, Post Bank is a joint venture between Pochta Rossii, the Russian post office, and state-owned banking giant VTB Bank. Russia’s leading retail bank the state-owned Sberbank, is the only bank with branches in all the regions and towns of Russia, but has been rationalising its network which has been cut in half over the last ten years. However, as there are no plans to cut bank on the post office network, the main point of contact for most people with the state, a post bank has been established on the basis of the post office network to ensure every town and village has access to banking services. For its part, VTB was interested in expanding its retail network to a size where it can challenge Sberbank, but also the access to the trillions in pension funds, most of which are distributed through the post office. The tie up with the supermarket is a natural partner for the post bank, which will install ATMs at the branches. Earlier this year, Post Bank launched a similar project with Pyaterochka. It was expected to last six months, but the bank decided to extend it until the end of 2019. Now 50 stores in St Petersburg, Krasnodar,
Samara,VoronezhandothercitieshavePostbankbranches. VTBalso holds an 18.3% stake in Magnit.
Russian development bank VEB.RF (former Vnesheconombank) will set up a $200mn venture funds with Korean Daedeok Ventures through its subsidiary VEB Ventures, the bank said on September 3. The fund will focus on tech companies from Russia and Korea in such fields as smart cities, medicine, and high-tech industry. Previously in 2017 VEB announced an agreement with the Export–Import Bank of China (China EximBank) for an “up to $3bn” credit line for infrastructure and high-tech projects.
73 RUSSIA Country Report September 2019 www.intellinews.com