The Public JSC Sberbank is a Russian majority state-owned banking and financial services company headquartered in Moscow. As the Russian successor entity of the State Labor Savings Banks System of the USSR, it was called Sberbank of Russia until 2015,[6] and in 2020 further shortened its brand to Sber.[7] Following the termination of its operations in the European Union in the immediate aftermath of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, its international footprint is primarily in the Commonwealth of Independent States.
By 2022, the bank accounted for about a third of all bank assets in Russia.[8] The bank's rise since 1990s is in part due to its close connections to the Russian government.[8] Sberbank has 86 branches and one representative office in 79 regions of Russia and one foreign country.[9] As of 2014 it was the largest bank in Russia and Eastern Europe, and the third largest in Europe, ranked 60th in the world and first in Central and Eastern Europe in The Banker's Top 1000 World Banks ranking.[10] In the world ranking of public companies Forbes "Global 2000" Sberbank takes 51st place.[11]
History
1991–2013
In 1991, the operations of the State Labor Savings Banks System of the USSR in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic were reorganised into the Joint-Stock Commercial Savings Bank of the Russian Federation (Sberbank of Russia).
In post-Soviet Russia, Sberbank is the largest universal bank despite growing competition from private and other state-owned commercial banks. The bank has gradually expanded its international presence.[12]
Since 2007, Sberbank is led by former economy minister Herman Gref who is a very close friend of Vladimir Putin.[13]
In 2011, Sberbank acquired Volksbank International AG from its shareholders Österreichische Volksbanken AG, BPCE, DZ Bank, and WGZ Bank. The deal included all Volksbank assets – banks in
Rebranding 2020 and "ecosystem"
In 2020, Sberbank undertook a rebranding. In addition to changing the logo and legalizing the reduction of "Sber", the company announced the transformation of the bank into an "ecosystem". Sberbank decided to become "more than a bank" and began to develop various services, mainly digital: online cinema (Okko), music (SberSound), food delivery (SberMarket), cloud storage (SberDisk), taxi (Citymobil).[64]
Initially, the "ecosystem" was built in partnership with the large Internet holding company Mail.ru Group, for which a joint venture, O2O (online-to-offline) Holding, was created with a capital of approximately 100 billion rubles. However, in the spring of 2021, the parties decided to end cooperation due to disagreements over management methods and corporate culture.[65]
Another component of the "ecosystem" is pharmacies. Having launched an online service, Sber Eapteka (e-drugstore), Sber soon decided to expand the business and open pharmacies in its own branches. It is assumed that purchases there will be more profitable due to the targeted packaging of drugs, as well as the production of its own generics.[66]
In 2021, Sber also founded an e-commerce site, SberMegaMarket, as well as SberMarket, a delivery app.[67]
Deposits of USSR citizens in the bank
After price liberalization in the early 1990s, the state and Sberbank effectively abandoned guarantees to secure citizens' deposits,[70] as a result of their depreciation, which, according to sociological surveys, caused a sharp dissatisfaction of the population.[71] Since 1996 there has been a phased compensation of depositors' losses.[72] Since 16 February 2008, Sberbank branches have started to pay compensation on Soviet deposits to certain categories of population.[73]
The law on full compensation of deposits, taking into account changes in the real value of the ruble, was adopted in 1995, but since 2003, the start of payments has been regularly postponed. In 2019, a law was enacted to delay the start of payments until 2023.[74] As of 2022, repayment of the entire debt of RUB 345.54 billion in 2023 would require RUB 62.7 trillion (including indexation).
Ownership
The majority shareholder of Sberbank is the Russian National Wealth Fund managed by the Government of Russia (until 2020 the Central Bank of the Russian Federation), owning 50%+1 voting share of Sberbank's voting shares. The rest of the shares are dispersed among portfolio, private, and other investors.[3][76]
Russia's central bank cannot sell its stake without a change in Russia's laws.[77][78]
Management
The president and chief executive officer is Herman Gref, confirmed by the board of directors on 16 October 2007.[79]
Sergei Gorkov joined Sberbank in November 2008 eventually becoming the head of the international operations and the senior vice chairman of the board from 10 October 2010, until 26 February 2016, when he left Sberbank to become the Chairman of Vnesheconombank.[80][81][82][83][84] He greatly expanded Sberbank from operations in only two foreign countries, Kazakhstan (2006)[85]
Operations
As of 2015, the bank had about 16,500 offices with over 250,000 employees.[107] According to its own estimates, the bank had over 137 million retail clients and over 1.1 million corporate clients in its 22 countries of presence.
As of August 2015, it accounted for 28.6% of aggregate banking assets, calling itself "the circulatory system of the Russian economy", "key lender to the Russian economy and the biggest receiver of deposits".[107]
Within Russia, Sberbank is structured into several regional divisions (territorial banks):
International presence
The 19 August 2021 Supreme Court of Ukraine ruling forbids the daughter of the Russian Sberbank in Ukraine to use the trademark "Sberbank" since it ruled that Oschadbank is the sole legal owner of the trademark "Sberbank" in Ukraine.[110]
Sponsorship
Sberbank sponsors sports and charity events in various regions of Russia,[122][123][124] as well as educational projects[125][126] including projects developing financial literacy.[127][128]
Controversies
Savings freezing
Sberbank is the successor of Soviet Savings Banks (as its name implies), whose assets were owned by the state.[129] During Russia's transition to a market economy in the 1990s, in which these assets were sold, Sberbank provided no guarantee for citizens' deposits.[130] This resulted in a landslide depreciation, which in turn led to severe discontent among the Russian population.[131] Since 1996, partial compensation for investors' losses has been offered.[132] However, until 2003, this only applied to state-owned banks such as Sberbank, giving them an unfair advantage over fully private banks.[133]
See also
- Banking in Russia
- GigaChat
- VTB Bank
Bibliography
External links
References
- SBER.RU www.wsj.com^
- Sberbank in brief Sberbank.ru, retrieved 13 May 2020^
- Sberbank announces its controlling stake sold to Russian Ministry of Finance as part of National Wealth Fund placement