VTB expecting to boost corporate loan portfolio level with market, retail - faster than market
MOSCOW. April 2 (Interfax) - VTB Group is expecting to increase its corporate loan portfolio at the same level of the market, by 10%, and its retail loan portfolio faster than the market, VTB Management Board Chairman Herbert Moos said during a conference call on Wednesday.
"Our forecast is that the level of growth for our corporate [loan] portfolio will remain at the level of the market - at around 10%," he said. The bank is expecting to increase its retail loan portfolio faster than the market. VTB is expecting the market's growth rate for retail loans to be around 20%.
Moos did not provide a profit forecast, saying that the bank is operating "in an atmosphere of serious uncertainty," particularly given the outflow of capital from emerging markets and lower GDP growth rates. The situation is also under the influence of events in Ukraine, he said, adding: "the influence of external factors is very difficult to evaluate." This year the bank's cost of risk is set to increase, he said.
Addressing the issue of dividends for 2013, Moos said the meeting of the supervisory board that will decide on the dividend recommendation to shareholders might be held in May. Management will recommend that the board "maintain the existing dividend policy," Moos said, under which the dividend payout would amount to 10%-20% of net profit under IFRS. He did not provide a more precise figure.