Page 71 - RusRPTFeb22

Europe by the Brand Finance Global 500 2022 report, ranking first on the old continent with the Brand Strength Index (BSI) score of 92.3 out of 100 and an elite AAA+ rating. Sber ranked sixth, only following WeChat, Coca-Cola, Google, YouTube, and Naver (South Korea’s number one search portal). Other Top 10 companies, ranking seventh to tenth, are Ferrari, Amazon, Deloitte, and Pepsi.
Sber (formerly known as Sberbank) delivered record earnings for 2021 –
Rb1.2tn (1.7x growth, excl. the effect of subsequent events) high 25% ROE on the back of negligible CoR 0.4% supported by macro recovery, record loan issuances despite higher interest rate environment as well as revenue growth driven by NII and Fees above OpeX with CIR down to 30.1%.
Sberbank released December 2021 RAS results. Ruble appreciated by 0.9% for the month and depreciated by 0.6% in 2021, affecting financials.
§ NII hit an absolute record in 2021 with Rb1,617bn (+12% y/y) as well as a record for 4Q21 with Rb433.3bn (+13% y/y; +4% q/q) and a monthly record in December Rb147.6bn (+14% y/y; +5% m/m) – record loan issuances of Rb20tn (+13% y/y) in 2021 drove further loan portfolio expansion mostly led by retail with Rb10.7trn (+26% in 2021 with 39% share of loans vs 35% in 2020) and Rb17tn corporate loans (+10% in 2021).
§ NIM stayed firm with only 30bp decrease in 2021 to 5.6% level and largely flat y/y in 4Q21 and December at 5.6% - despite higher interest rate environment with cumulative 525bp key rate hikes to 9.5%, given quicker repricing of the asset yield with 44% share of corporate loans at floating rates offsetting cost of funding pressure.
§ Fees also reached a record result in 2021 with Rb578.9bn (+14% y/y) as well as for 4Q21 and December with Rb155.3bn (+7% y/y) and Rb57.9bn (+4% y/y; +18% m/m) accordingly – overall macro improvement in 2021 post challenged by COVID 2020 were supportive with banking cards operations, including acquiring were the main driver for the F&C revenues.
§ Provision charge was at the lowest level since 2013 with Rb112bn for 2021 (-82% y/y) and almost zero CoR of 0.4% vs 2.8% in 2020 hit by lockdowns and macro deceleration. 4q21 provision expense totalled Rb13.6bn (-88% y/y) and Rb3.9bn (-96% y/y) in December with also negligible CoR at 0.2% in both periods. NPLs stays stable and low at 2.3% vs 2.17% Dec-20.
§ OpEx increased to Rb706bn for 2021 (+9% y/y) – its growth is in-line with CPI in Russia with 4q21 number at Rb221bn (+4% y/y) and
71 RUSSIA Country Report February 2022 www.intellinews.com