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sovereign fund), the analysts welcomed the deal for its opportunities to the minority shareholders of Sberbank. But the "complicated market situation" forced the CBR to design the deal which would "satisfy minority shareholders without making a buyout offer," Shvecov is quoted as saying, without providing additional details. Earlier this month CBR also suggested extending the deadline for the sale of the controlling stake in Sberbank from June 1 to December 1 2020, due to increased market volatility caused by the spread of the Coronavirus.
Steep slides on the market mean that the Bank of Russia is set to receive much less from the sale of its stake in Sberbank than expected, and it even may force the regulator to push the deal to next year if oil prices fall too far, senior Russian officials said on Tuesday, according to Reuters. The sale, announced in February, had been expected to begin in April, is in part meant to end years of debate about potential conflicts of interest arising from the central bank’s control over the country’s top lender. Deputy Finance Ministry Vladimir Kolychev said on Tuesday that Russia’s central bank was likely to receive 300bn rubles ($4.18bn) from the stake sale. The deal originally foresaw that the finance ministry would draw 2.45 trillion rubles from the National Wealth Fund to buy the stake and the central bank would receive 700bn rubles from the sale of its 50pc plus one share. The bulk of the proceeds – or 1.25 trillion rubles – was set to be returned to the state budget.
The net profit of Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank rose 8.9% on the year to RUB156.5bn in January–February, as calculated under Russian Accounting Standards (RAS), the bank said in a report on Friday. Retails loans rose 1.9% to 7.378 trillion rubles as of March 1 and corporate loans increased 2.2% to 13.624 trillion rubles. Retail deposits with the bank fell 0.7% to 13.525 trillion rubles as of March 1, while corporate deposits increased 3.8% to 6.9 trillion rubles.
Russia's largest bank state-controlled Sberbank reported net profit of RUB156bn ($2.2bn) under Russian Accounting Standards (RAS) in January- February 2020, up by 9% year-on-year and making a 21% return on equity. As reported by bne IntelliNews, the crisis that Russian banks suffered in 2014- 2016 is well and truly over as the sector had its second full year of clear profits in 2019, for which Sberbank contributed the largest part. The bank reported RUB845bn ($13bn) net profit under IFRS for 2019, up by 1.6% y/y and making a return on equity of 20%. In 2M20 the bank's RAS results are "firm, proving resilience to heavy market volatility in February," BCS Global Markets commented on March 6, noting good net interest margin (NIM), strong fees growth, record loan issuance and the ongoing RWA optimization. NIM stayed flat at 5.8%, supported by another strong month for the retail lending (+1% m/m and +17% y/y) as well as by further cost of funds reduction. Both retail and corporate loans showed another record issuance with RUB1.2 trillion (+37% m/m, +9% y/y) and RUB285bn (+10% m/m, +24% y/y) respectively. Fees growth decelerated in February to 6% y/y, yet still recorded 14% y/y for 2M20, supported by card operations and corporate business activity. Sberbank's capital adequacy ratios were positively supported by RWA reduction by RUB300bn, attributed by BCS GM to IRB models implementation on mortgages as well as introduction of regulatory specialized lending slotting criteria for project financing. The BCS GM analysts maintain a fundamental positive view on Sberbank with Buy recommendation and a target price of RUB310 per share.
The Central bank of Russia (CBR) suggested extending the deadline for
80 RUSSIA Country Report April 2020 www.intellinews.com