Sberbank does not expect significant deterioration of retail loan portfolio in 2025 - first deputy CEO

MOSCOW. May 13 (Interfax) - Sberbank does not expect the quality of its retail loan portfolio to deteriorate significantly in 2025, though it does not rule out an increase in the share of problem loans amid the repayment of some debt, the leading Russian lender's first deputy CEO, Kirill Tsarev said in an interview with Interfax.

"If there is deterioration, it will be negligible. Amid the contraction of the consumer portfolio we may see an increase in the cost of risk. The portfolio is getting smaller, but all old bad loans that we've collected remain," he said.

"We can't say that there should be problems on the market. Household incomes are growing regardless. We don't expect significant changes, but there could be local things. Some companies could carry out optimization, someone could lose their job, and someone could, on the contrary, find one. This will all be within the margin of error. We'll get a certain increase in the share of problem loans because of the changing structure of the portfolio due to repayment, but no more than that," Tsarev said.

The cost of risk of Sberbank's overall loan portfolio to IFRS grew to 1.2% in the first quarter of 2025 from 0.5% a year earlier. The retail loan portfolio's cost of risk grew to 3.3% amid high interest rates in the economy, tightening regulation and the slowdown of the portfolio's growth.