Page 76 - RUSRptApr17

8.1.8 Bank news
Sberbank , Russia’s biggest lender, has shrugged off concerns about Brexit by committing another £4.5mn ($5.6mn) to its troubled London investment bank, bne IntelliNews c an reveal . A filing made by the bank on April 9 with UK Companies House shows that an additional £4.5mn in capital was provided to keep the struggling operation afloat. The injection follows a simliar-sized award of £5.5mn made by the parent a year ago. Filings show that the Sberbank UK business now has an aggregate capital of £29.5mn.
Sberbank ranked first amongst Russia’s most valuable brands in a rating published by research company Brand Finance. The value of Sberbank brand increased by 23% during the year and amounted to nearly RUB570bn. The Bank’s strengths include its strong loan portfolio, carefully managed risk, but, more importantly, its ambitious and innovative approach," says the study by Brand Finance. Sberbank is a 6th banking brand in Europe by value and 24th in the world. Brand Finance calculates brand value using the Royalty Relief methodology which determines the value a company would be willing to pay to license its brand as if it did not own it. This approach involves estimating the future revenue attributable to a brand and calculating a royalty rate that would be charged for the use of the brand.
Sberbank officially announced leaving the Ukrainian market on April 7 , citing “sanctions of the National Bank of Ukraine, and consistent and aggressive actions from the National Sector” as the main reasons to sell its Ukrainian business. The lender's exit marks another step in the collapse of relations between Russia and Ukraine since the pro-Moscow regime in Kyiv was ousted in protests in 2014. Four other Russian state-owned banks in Ukraine are also expected to scale down or shut their operations as pressure
76 RUSSIA Country Report April 2017 www.intellinews.com