Sberbank boosting 'green' financing portfolio at expense of old projects, no new loans at moment
MOSCOW. June 14 (Interfax) - Sberbank grew its portfolio of green loans at the beginning of June to 395 billion rubles, mainly due to the financing of previously launched projects, with no new loans yet, Tatiana Zavyalova, the lender's senior vice president for ESG, told reporters.
"By early June our portfolio reached 395 billion rubles. This is mostly a continuation of financing of previously launched projects. In any case, the growth of the portfolio is important and it is good progress, given the current difficult conditions. The mechanisms are working, lending has not been stopped," she said.
"There are no new 'green' loans yet, but there is still interest, there are requests, we expect that this is a temporary phenomenon," the executive said.
As soon as the situation stabilizes, including in light of the new Central Bank rate, the process, according to the bank, will begin to develop, Zavyalova said.
She also said that Sberbank has no plans to issue "green" bonds in the near future. "We have no plans to place green bonds in the near future. We are on pause for absolutely clear reasons. We expect that when the situation stabilizes, we will understand what our plans are," she said.
New 'green' projects may appear when major strategic and infrastructure decisions are made in the economy.
"The emergence of new bond placements seems unlikely for now, unless the overall economic situation changes in the next few months. The situation with 'green' lending is more optimistic. The portfolio will grow, but the growth rate will probably be lower," she said.
It was reported earlier that Sberbank in Q1 2022 increased the loan portfolio in the field of 'green' financing by 2% - to 306 billion rubles.
Sberbank debuted green bonds in November 2021. The rate of the first coupon of two-year green bonds, series 002P-01, was set at 8.8% per annum. The volume of placement was increased from 10 billion rubles to 25 billion rubles.