Page 77 - RusRPTMar19

The bank has not said exactly how much it will pay in dividends yet, but analysts are not expecting the full 50% payout. But the dividend payout has been rising in recent years and last year the bank paid record dividends of 36.2% of net profit.
And in other news..
As of the rest of the results Sberbank's net interest income grew by 3.5% to RUB1.39 trillion and commission fees by 18.1% to RUB445.3bn. The cost of creating reserves for the year decreased by 14.6% to RUB225.3bn, Vedomosti reported.
The loan portfolio was up over the year: the corporate loan portfolio was up by 12.9% to RUB12.69 trillion and the retail loan portfolio by 25% to RUB5.39 trillion. Indeed, retail borrowing is growing so fast now that the CBR is starting to get worried and may intervene soon to cool the business by raising prudential thresholds.
Deposits are also growing, but not as fast. The savings of the population in the state bank increased by 9.9% to RUB12.27 trillion, while those of companies were up by 26.6% to RUB5.84 trillion.
The strong results will only underscore the bank’s image as an investor darling. After taking a sanctions-related battering last year, the bank’s stock has recovered and recently took bank Russia’s king of the castle title from oil company Rosneft to become Russia’s most valuable company in January.
Analysts are now speculating that Sberbank will manage the 505 payout next year. “Much depends on capital adequacy: now it is 11.9%, Sberbank’s goal is 12.5%, and once it reaches that level it will pay out 50%,” Aton’s Mikhail Ganelin told Vedomosti.
The growth in capital adequacy was less than hoped as the CBR is pushing through the Basel III rules which means banks have to make larger provisions. In Sberbank’s case the new provisions are estimated to have reduced its capital adequacy by 0.8%, which leaves less money as profits.
Another fillip to profits failed to appear: the sale of Turkish bank Denizbank that has been postponed several times. Investors were hoping that if the Turkish bank were sold then Sberbank would share the windfall with investors. Analysts estimate that the sale of the bank would add the missing 100bp to Sberbank capital adequacy and take it over the 12.5% threshold that would allow the 50% payout.
Sberbank reports 22% increase in ROE for January under RAS, but NIM declines
Russia’s leading retail bank Sberbank has published its January 2019 Russian Accounting Standards (RAS) standalone results that showed the usual strong returns on equity, although the net interest margins (NIMs) slipped somewhat following a rate hike by the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) in December.
The bank’s earnings of RUB74bn ($1.1bn) were up 13% y/y, implying a solid 22.4% ROE, reports VTB Capital (VTBC) said in a note.
77 RUSSIA Country Report March 2019 www.intellinews.com