Sberbank stabilizes quality of loan portfolio, provisioning returns to pre-crisis level - Gref

MOSCOW. Nov 10 (Interfax) - Sberbank has managed to stabilize the quality of its loan portfolio, bringing the share of overdue debt down to less than 2.2%, where it was at the end of 2021, the CEO of Russia's largest lender, Herman Gref told reporters on the sidelines of the Finopolis forum.

"We managed to achieve stabilization of loan portfolio quality, despite all the challenges of the current period. The share of overdue debt on loans to legal entities and individuals is even lower than the level at the end of last year [when it was 2.2%]," Gref said.

"In the second half of the year we are seeing stabilization of the risk level, while provisioning expenses on the overall loan portfolio are returning to the pre-crisis level (COR 1.09% for the last four months)," he said.

The bank's business is demonstrating strong growth, he said, with the retail loan portfolio growing by 9% since the start of 2022 and the corporate portfolio, before foreign currency revaluation, increasing by 11.9%.

"The monthly amount of loans issued has returned to the pre-crisis level of the second half of 2021," Gref said.