CBR rate hike to 20% will not change Sberbank forecasts, bank prepared - CFO

MOSCOW. Aug 8 (Interfax) - Sberbank is prepared for the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) to raise its key interest rate by another 200 basis points to 20%, as it regularly conducts stress tests, the leading Russian lender's senior vice president and CFO Taras Skvortsov said in a conference call on Thursday.

"Are we prepared for a potential increase? In general, yes. We constantly do stress tests, look at what sectors, what clients might be most negatively affected, and prepare for this effect one way or another, minimizing its consequences for ourselves and for clients as well," Skvortsov said.

"Even if there is another increase [of the key rate] to 20%, I don't think that after this there will be a need to change our forecasts that we announced today," he said.

The bank generally assumes that the key rate will remain at the current 18% until the end of 2024. The CBR hiked it to 18% from 16% in July.

Sberbank on Thursday raised its guidance for return on equity in 2024 to over 23% from more than 22% earlier.

The bank kept its forecast for net interest margin in 2024 at more than 5.7%. It also left its forecast for cost of risk at about 100-110 basis points, and core capital adequacy ratio at over 13.3%.