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Russian state-controlled lender Sberbank is to pay Rbs752bn ($8bn) in dividends after posting its largest-ever revenue final yr, in an indication of the well being of the nation’s banking sector regardless of western sanctions.
The payout by Russia’s largest financial institution quantities to half of its 2023 revenue, chief govt Herman Gref stated on Tuesday.
Half of the payout — Rbs375bn — will circulate straight into the Russian price range, because the state owns 50 per cent plus one share of Sberbank, boosting the Kremlin’s coffers to fund the warfare that Vladimir Putin’s regime is waging on Ukraine. The dividend distributed to the state is in keeping with what the federal government had deliberate in its price range for the present yr.
The payout highlights how the Russian banking sector has recovered from the primary wave of western sanctions, remaining one of many vital sources of Russia’s non-energy revenues.
Remoted from the world’s capital markets, Russian lenders have benefited from a surge in government-subsidised mortgages and company lending because the Russian wartime financial system fuelled demand for funding.
In roubles, Sberbank’s dividend for 2023 is 30 per cent larger than the one distributed for the earlier yr, when it paid out Rbs565bn, additionally a document on the time.
The Moscow-based lender posted Rbs1.5tn in revenue final yr, greater than a fivefold improve from the earlier yr and almost half of the Rbs3.3tn mixture income generated by Russian banks.
Based on Gref, about 17 per cent of Sberbank shareholders will obtain a complete of about Rbs130bn to “sort C” accounts — particular accounts the place western traders can obtain income from Russia, be it from shares or enterprise operations within the nation. The cash can’t be withdrawn or transferred overseas with out the Russian state’s permission.
Nonetheless, Gref stated that 2024 can be “considerably more difficult” for the Russian banking sector as a result of the regulatory necessities have been tightening and mortgage demand would lower.
“Nonetheless, we anticipate reaching a better web revenue this yr in comparison with 2023,” he stated.
Gref, a longtime financial confidant of president Putin, has informed his associates he opposed the warfare and even offered a dire financial forecast to the Russian president a month earlier than the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Mirroring most officers and state firm leaders, he has remained in his job, citing his obligation to Sberbank’s prospects and refuting allegations of the financial institution’s involvement in supporting Russia’s warfare chest, individuals who know him stated.
