Sberbank keeping to forecast for boosting loans to small business in 2014
MOSCOW. Sept 11 (Interfax) Sberbank is keeping to the forecast for a 33% increase of its credit portfolio to small and micro businesses in 2014, the bank's vice president, Andrei Sharov, told journalists on Thursday.
"We are maintaining the forecast, in fact, I want to say that we are growing confidently enough in market share, over the past year and half it has increased by 6.5 percentage points, and in the last quarter as well. Although it must be recognized that the market is, as we say, flat - it is not growing or falling. The total market for financing micro and small businesses is approximately 3.5 trillion rubles," Sharov said.
He said Sberbank is actively lending credit, including for up to 10 years. "I am not seeing a fall in investment activity. We feel that now is the best time for investments because what you've invested now, you earned during a growth period," Sharov said.
In March he said that based on 2014, Sberbank's credit portfolio for small and micro business will grow by a third in comparison with 600 billion rubles on January 1. Sharov said that at the beginning of the year Sberbank's share on the Russian market for small business loans was 11%, for micro businesses - 29%.