Page 121 - RusRPTMar23

8.1.8 Sberbank news
The net profit of Russia’s top bank Sberbank increased by 9.8% on the year to 110.1bn rubles in January, as calculated under Russian Accounting Standards (RAS), the bank said in a statement on Thursday. Individual client account balances with the bank fell by 4.7% in January to 17.5 trillion rubles and corporate client account balances with the bank decreased by 4.5% to 8.3 trillion rubles. The bank’s retail loan portfolio increased by 1% in the month to 12.2 trillion rubles. The corporate loan portfolio fell by 0.9% to 18.6 trillion rubles.
The Finance Ministry expects Russia’s top bank Sberbank to pay at least 50% of the net profit in dividends for 2022, Deputy Finance Minister Vladimir Kolychev told reporters on February 9. When asked whether the ministry expected the bank to pay dividends for 2022, he said, “Yes, we expect that to happen. The approach is standard, it is formalized in Sberbank’s dividend policy. It should pay no less than 50%. We will discuss it further.” The bank’s dividend policy stipulates that it should pay at least 50% of the net profit calculated under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) in dividends if its capital adequacy ratio is above 12.5%. The bank paid 50% of the IFRS net profit in dividends for 2019, 56% of the net profit in dividends for 2020, and it paid no dividends for 2021. Sberbank CEO German Gref said in November 2022 that the bank will return to a normal state in 2023. The bank is yet to publish its financial report calculated under IFRS for 2022.
8.1.8 Bank news
The United States administration has imposed sanctions against 80% of the Russian banking sector, about 2,400 individuals and legal entities have fallen under US restrictions since the start of the special military operation in Ukraine, the US Treasury announced on February 24.
US works toward tougher restrictions on banks with ties to Russia. Washington is working to push harsher restrictions on banks with ties to Russia and crack down on those evading current rules, the U.S. State Department’s Sanctions Coordination Office head James O’Brien told Reuters.
US sanctions authority examining Austrian bank's ties to Russia. Raiffeisen, the second-largest bank lender in Austria, is highly involved in Russia's financial system and is among just two foreign banks considered "systemically important" by the Russian central bank, emphasizing its significance to Russia's economy amid extensive Western sanctions.
VTB 's profit this year is unlikely to reach the record of 2021, when the bank earned RUB320bn, but it will be "comparable", said the head of VTB Andrey Kostin. “You know, we set quite ambitious goals. We had the highest
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