22 Nov 2011 12:44

Interfax, AK&M name Sberbank winner of 2011 Transparency Prize

The Interfax and AK&M news agencies, which are authorized to disclose corporate information for the stock market, have named Sberbank as the winner of this year‘s annual Prize for an Active Corporate Policy on Information Disclosure.
The jury, comprised of representatives from information agencies and stock exchanges, and renowned experts, noted that Sberbank management‘s information transparency and openness have become part of the bank‘s strategy.
"A bank with a sizeable business, Sberbank remains proactive, demonstrating openness at all levels and disclosing information on major events that many other issuers do not deem necessary to disclose," Interfax Group Executive Director Vladimir Gerasimov, who heads the jury, said at the award presentation ceremony in Moscow on November 22.
"Sberbank is trying to be as transparent as possible in order to give its shareholders and investors an opportunity to make decisions guided by prompt and reliable information," said Sberbank President and CEO German Gref.
The jury praised Sberbank for providing mandatory information to the market regularly and on time, and for the management‘s friendly readiness to deal with investors and the media. Sberbank was the bank that sorted out the rules on disclosing RAS accounts, releasing the mandatory figures on the day established and no later than at 10 a.m., before the markets open.
The management‘s daily press briefings allow journalists and investors to get the latest information about developments at the bank, and receive explanations regarding their queries. A prompt reaction to reporters‘ questions allows the bank to provide flexible responses to information processes in the country.
*** The Prize for an Active Corporate Policy of Information Disclosure was instituted by the Federal Financial Markets Service‘s authorized agencies - Interfax and AK&M - in 2003. It is conferred on companies that demonstrate the greatest achievements in providing information for investors quickly and fully.
One of the criteria for the prize is whether a company has met its deadlines for disclosing IFRS accounts and whether such accounts have been comprehensive.
Other criteria are information on corporate events and on ultimate beneficiary owners, whether information has been disclosed simultaneously to Russian and foreign investors, and a general assessment of how a company has been doing in the information field.
The previous winners of the prize were the Magnitogorsk Iron & Steel Works (OAO MMK) in 2010, Rosneft ( in 2009, Lukoil in 2008, The Pipe Metallurgical Company (TMK) in 2007, Severstal in 2006, Russian Railways in 2005, Mechel Group in 2004 and Kalina Concern in 2003.
In October 2003, the stock market regulator put a rule into force making it mandatory that companies issuing securities disclose information on key events via the newswires of authorized agencies. Today about 30,000 companies disclose their major events via authorized agencies, the number of which increased to five in 2007.