Sberbank of Russia

Early history

Sberbank's history goes back to Cancrin's financial reform of 1841, when a network of the first state-owned savings banks was created in Russia. By the end of the 19th century, the network reached almost 4 thousand outlets with over 2 million depositors.

Since 1905, savings bank outlets became authorised to sell insurance. After 1910, savings banks started subsidising credit cooperation institutions and extending loans to small lenders. In 1915, savings bank outlets started accepting government securities for depositing.

Soviet savings banks system

After the October Revolution of 1917, the state savings banks system continued its activity and growth under the management of the Finance Ministry of the USSR as the State Labour Savings Banks System. From 1926, the saving bank outlets were used to pay wages to blue- and white-collar workers. The savings banks were used to distribute state lottery tickets and for the placement of state bonds with the population. The savings banks introduced wider services such as money transfers.

By late 1980s, the Soviet savings bank system had almost 80 thousand branches. As part of Perestroika reforms, in 1987 the savings bank outlets are reorganised into the Savings Bank of the USSR. Within the Savings bank of the USSR, separate savings banks were created in the Soviet Republics. Following the dissolution of the USSR, the former republican savings banks became state savings banks of the newly independent post-Soviet states.

In 1991, the Savings bank of the RSFSR has been reorganised into the Joint-Stock Commercial Savings Bank of the Russian Federation (Sberbank of Russia).

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.

Since 2007, Sberbank is led by former economy minister Herman Gref.

Volksbank International acquisition, 2011

In 2011, Sberbank acquired Volksbank International AG from its shareholders Österreichische Volksbanken AG, BPCE, DZ Bank and WGZ Bank. The deal included all VBI assets - banks in Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Ukraine, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, except for Volksbank Romania. The agreed price was €585 to €645 million, depending on VBI business performance in 2011. VBI’s total assets excluding Romania was €9.4 billion in June 2011.

Denizbank acquisition, 2012

In June 2012 Sberbank bought the Turkish DenizBank for Turkish Lira 6,469 billion (about EUR 2,821 billion or US$3.504 billion) from the lender Dexia, which in 2011 was "partly nationalized by the governments of France, Belgium and Luxembourg". The deal included DenizBank subsidiaries in Turkey, Austria and Russia.

US and EU sanctions, 2014

After the annexation of the Crimean Peninsula by Russia in 2014 the Obama administration imposed sanctions, to which the US Department of Treasury added new prohibitions in September 2014, coinciding with EU sanctions. Sanctions consist of access restriction to the EU and US capital markets. After announcement of the sanctions, and by the end of July, Sberbank's market value had dropped the most market value among the world’s major lenders plus investors moved $22 billion from Sberbank’s market capitalization. Still, during the following year Sberbank’s share price grew back 89%. Sberbank together with other Russian banks filed claims with the highest EU court to lift the punitive economic measures.

Ownership

The majority shareholder of Sberbank is the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, owning 50%+1 voting share of Sberbank's voting shares. The rest of the shares is dispersed among portfolio, private and other investors with an estimated shareholding of over 43% held by foreigners.

Russia's central bank cannot sell its stake without a change in Russia's laws.

Management

The President and Chief Executive Officer is Herman Gref, confirmed by the Board of Directors on 16 October 2007.

The Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Sberbank is Sergey Ignatiev, former Chairman of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.

Operations

As of 2015 the bank had about 16,500 offices with over 250,000 employees. According to 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".

Within Russia, Sberbank is structured into several regional divisions (territorial banks):

Sponsorship

Sberbank sponsors sports and charity events in various regions of Russia, as well as educational projects including projects developing financial literacy.

Not returning of citizens' deposits

Sberbank is the successor of Soviet saving banks, whose assets belonged to the state. During Russia's transition to a market economy in the 1990s, in which these assets were sold, Sberbank provided no guarantee for citizens' deposits. This resulted in a landslide depreciation, which in turn led to severe discontent among the Russian population. Since 1996, partial compensation for investors' losses has been offered - however, it must be noted that this only applied to state-owned banks such as Sberbank until 2003, offering them an unfair advantage.

Low level of service

In the 2000 Sberbank was repeatedly blamed for poor service. Consequently, in subsequent years, Sberbank has introduced new services and improved the quality of some of its existing ones. By the mid-2010s, the bank was reportedly among the market leaders with regards to quality of client services, such as services for retail depositors, premium services and several others.

Ukrainian accusation of funding for terrorism in Ukraine

In April 2014, several Ukrainian officials accused Sberbank of funding actions which took place in the East and South of Ukraine, including terrorism. The bank denied any involvement in the financing of illegal activities on Ukrainian territory, which was later confirmed by an examination carried out by the National Bank of Ukraine.

In late 2013 and early 2014 the bank's network had become a target of the Do not buy Russian goods! campaign. Ukrainian activists appealed not to use Sberbank's services because of their Russian origin. The boycott had become widespread in March 2014 in connection with the Crimean crisis and 2014 Russian military intervention in Ukraine with a wave of protest actions against Russian banks in Ukraine, and against Sberbank of Russia in particular. Banks were vandalized in particular after the accusations of funding of terrorism in Ukraine.