Sberbank in Moscow boosts corporate loan portfolio 30% in 2013, retail up 40%
MOSCOW. Feb 6 (Interfax) - Sberbank of Russia in Moscow increased the corporate loan portfolio 30% to 740 billion rubles in 2013 and the retail loan portfolio was up 40% to 350 billion rubles, Sberbank in Moscow chief Oleg Smirnov told journalists on Thursday.
"Our loan portfolio grew virtually 30% for the corporate business and totaled about 740 billion rubles. We quite intensively increased the retail portfolio, whose growth was about 40% and finished the year at practically 350 billion rubles," Smirnov said.
Small business lending increased roughly 50% to 40 billion rubles last year, he said.
Loans more than 90 days overdue accounted for 1.6% of the corporate portfolio and 5.8% of the retail portfolio, Smirnov said. The quality of the portfolio improved, he said, without providing specific figures.
The bank expects the pace of growth to slow in 2014. "We are targeting growth in the retail portfolio of about 20%. As for the corporate portfolio, growth will be 12%-15% depending on the segment," he said.
Retail deposits at the Moscow bank increased 25% to 2.2 trillion rubles. Balances in corporate accounts were up 9.5% to 803 billion rubles.
The bank increased the number of branches to 756 in 2013 from 750 at the beginning of the year. A number of branches were closed and reopened at nearby locations with more space.
The number of active users of the Sberbank-Online system at the Moscow bank totaled 1.5 million people, 50% more than in 2012. The number of Mobile Bank users rose 37% to 1.8 million.
"This enables us to lower the number of visits by our clients to the branch network and improve service," he said, noting that a key goal for the bank is eliminating queues at the branches.
In 2010, one out of four clients in Moscow had to wait more than 10 minutes to be served, he said. At the end of 2013 just one out of 14 clients had to wait that long, and the maximum wait was no more than 15 minutes, Smirnov said.
Meanwhile, Smirnov said, there was no spike in demand to buy foreign currency in connection with recent ruble weakening, although there was some fluctuation in demand.
"There was heightened demand in the first business week of January. We had an increase in sales in the first three-four days. In the latest seven days were have seen the sales volume picture recover to the levels of the fourth quarter [of 2013]," he said.
But there was no panic selling of rubles by members of the public, he said. At the same time, some account holders switched to foreign currency accounts.
"This is a certain number of clients who have decided to switch a portion of their ruble holdings into dollars or euro," Smirnov said.