Russia’s largest bank Sberbank (Sber) posted RUB115bn net profit under Russian Accounting Standards (RAS) in January 2024, making a return on equity of 20.7% versus 24.7% ROE seen in 2023.

As followed by bne IntelliNews, Sberbank showed a rise of 21% year on year in RAS profit to a record-high RUB1.48 trillion ($17bn) in 2023, with RUB116bn RAS profit in December 2023 alone. 

The ROE posted in January was slightly below the bank's medium-term target of 22%, Renaissance Capital commented on February 12.

“Net interest and net fee and commission income declined slightly in January versus December (also due to seasonality), as did the level of operating expenses. The year-on-year growth of these indicators slowed down relative to December, but remained at a fairly high level,” the analysts commented.

At the same time, the cost of the risk indicator increased (up to 1.9%), which was attributed by Sber to the growth in provisioning expenses to the deterioration in the quality of retail loans.

In January, Sberbank's corporate loan portfolio declined by 1.1% month on month (+24.2% y/y) after growing by 1.2% in December, due to both seasonality and the effect of rising interest rates. Retail credit growth was 0.6% m/m in January (+28.9% y/y) after 0.3% a month earlier. At the same time, mortgage portfolio grew by 0.4% m/m, card products portfolio by 3.6% m/m, while consumer loans contracted by 0.1% m/m amid the Central Bank of Russia's (CBR) tightening regulation.

In terms of funding, retail deposits decreased by 1.9% m/m (seasonality-related), while corporate deposits increased by 4.5% m/m. 

Total capital adequacy ratio (N1.0) increased by 0.2 p.p. to 13.3%, exceeding the CBR’s norm and the level required by the bank's policy to distribute profits for dividends.

To remind, Sber, under full blocking sanctions, did not pay the RUB623bn dividend for 2021 amid the fallout from Russia’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine.

But the bank surprised with the record-breaking total dividend payout of RUB565bn ($7.3bn) in 2022, making more than double the RUB271bn net profit the bank earned last year. The largest recipient of the dividend, at RUB282.5bn, will be the state (50% plus one share in Sberbank).