Sberbank opening branch in Sevastopol

ROSTOV-ON-DON. May 15 (Interfax) -First branch of Sberbank is open for business in Sevastopol on Monday.

Anatoly Pesennikov, chairman of the South-Western region for Russia's Sberbank, said at the branch opening, "We practically built the office in a month, an office of a new modular design. And our products and services will not differ in any way and will be identical throughout the Russian Federation."

He also noted that before the end of the year, Sberbank will open several offices in Crimea's major cities. "We will increase the number of offices in Sevastopol as well. We will open an office here in July to service businesses," Pesennikov said.

Sberbank in January announced it would open in Crimea. In the first half of the year, the bank plans to open three offices in the peninsula's largest cities, and throughout 2023 to expand its network of automatic tellers throughout Crimea.

In early May, the first branch of Sberbank opened in Crimea, in Yalta.

It was reported that in May-June, Sberbank plans to expand its ATM network in Crimea to 80 devices from 30 by mid-April.

Currently, a limited number of banks operate in Crimea, all of which have been under external restrictions for several years.

Sberbank at the start of April 2022 came under US blocking sanctions. Similar restrictions were introduced later by other countries.