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42 I Eastern Europe bne March 2018
Sberbank shrugs off Brexit fears by doubling capital of its London business
Jason Corcoran in Moscow
Russia’s biggest lender Sber-
bank has shrugged off concerns about both Brexit and sanctions by committing another £40mn ($56mn) to its troubled London investment
bank, bne IntelliNews can reveal.
A filing made by the bank on February
8 with UK Companies House shows that £40mn was injected by the parent in a move which more than doubles the capi- tal of Sberbank CIB, its London-based unit. Filings show that Sberbank's UK operation now has an aggregate capital of £74.3mn.
The investment is the largest by Sber- bank into its UK business and follows more modest capital injections of £5.5mn and £3mn made by the parent last year.
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"Sberbank has taken a long-term view and have decided to stay in the city of London despite all the problems with sanctions against it and all the negative Brexit noise," a senior Russian banker told bne IntelliNews.
to remaining in the UK beyond the country’s departure from the EU.
Sberbank has declined to outline any plans it may have for setting up a head- quarters for its investment bank within
“Sberbank has taken a long-term view and have decided to stay in the city of London despite all the problems”
Previous Sberbank regulatory filings show that the funds were made to support the UK unit’s capital base and to ensure that sufficient capital buffers were maintained, suggesting the Russian banking behemoth is committed
the EU. However, the parent bank is rap- idly retreating from mainland Central and Eastern Europe in a series of disposals.
Sberbank is in talks with the Dubai banking group Emirates NBD over sell-