PJSC Sberbank (Russian ：Сбербанк， Originally The Russian Abbreviation ：сберегательный банк， Sberegatelnyy Bank, Which Is "Sberbank") Is A Russian Majority State-owned Bank And Financial Services Company Headquartered In Moscow. As The Russian Successor Entity To The Soviet Union's National System Of Labor Savings Banks, It Was Known As Sberbank Until 2015 And Further Shortened Its Brand To Sber In 2020. After Terminating Its Operations In The European Union Immediately Following Russia's Invasion Of Ukraine, Its International Footprint Is Mainly In The Commonwealth Of Independent States.
By 2022, The Bank Accounts For About One-third Of All Banking Assets In Russia. The Bank's Rise Since The 1990s Is Due In Part To Its Close Ties To The Russian Government. Sberbank Has 79 Branches And 2 Representative Offices In 87 Regions Of Russia And 1 Foreign Country. As Of 2014 It Is The Largest Bank In Russia And Eastern Europe And The Third Largest Bank In Europe. It Is Ranked 1000th In The World In The Banker's Ranking Of The World's Top 60 Banks And First In Central And Eastern Europe. Sberbank Is Ranked 51st In The Forbes "Global 2000" World Ranking Of Listed Companies.
History
In 2001, Russian President Vladimir Putin Visited The Moscow Branch Of Sberbank
Russian Coins Commemorating The Establishment Of The First Savings Bank In The Russian Empire In 1841.
1991-2013
In 1991, The Operation Of The Soviet State Labor Savings Bank System In The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic Was Restructured Into Sberbank Of Russia, A Joint-stock Commercial Savings Bank.
In Post-Soviet Russia, Sberbank Is The Largest Universal Bank, Despite Increasing Competition From Private And Other State-owned Commercial Banks. The Bank Has Gradually Expanded Its International Reach.
Since 2007, Sberbank Has Been Led By Former Minister Of Economy Herman Gref, A Close Friend Of Vladimir Putin.
Acquisition Of Volksbank International In 2011
In 2011, Sberbank Of Russia Acquired Volksbank International AG From Its Shareholders Österreichische Volksbanken AG, BPCE, DZ Bank And WGZ Bank. The Transaction Includes All PBC Assets In Slovakia, Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Croatia, Ukraine, Serbia And Bosnia And Herzegovina, With The Exception Of PBC Romania. The Agreed Price Is 58.5645 Billion To 2011.9 Billion Euros, Depending On The Performance Of PBC For 4 Years. In June 2011, The Total Assets Of PBC (excluding Romania) Were 201.30 Billion Euros. In 18/17, Volksbank (Ukraine), A Wholly Owned Subsidiary Of Sberbank, Changed Its Name To VS Bank [uk] (Ukrainian ：ВіЕс Банк）。
2012 Denizbank Acquisition
In June 2012, Sberbank Acquired Turkey's DenizBank From Lender Dexia For 469.2 Billion Turkish Lira (about 82.13 Billion Euros Or $50.42011 Billion), Which Was "partially Nationalized By The Governments Of France, Belgium And Luxembourg" In 19 Years. The Deal Includes DenizBank Subsidiaries In Turkey, Austria And Russia.
2014-2017 Sanctions
Following Russia's Annexation Of The Crimean Peninsula In 2014, The Pakistani Government Imposed Targeted Sanctions Through The US Treasury's Office Of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) On December 21, 2014, Placing Sberbank And Other Entities On The Sectoral Sanctions Identification (SSI) List. This Coincided With The Inclusion Of Sberbank On The European Union Sanctions List On 30/31/2014. The Sanctions Included Restrictions On Access To European Union And US Capital Markets. After The Sanctions Were Announced, Sberbank's Market Value Fell The Most Among The World's Major Lenders By The End Of 1989, And Investors Moved $3.60 Billion From Sberbank's Market Value. Despite This, Sberbank's Share Price Increased Again In The Following Year. Sberbank, Along With Other Russian Banks, Filed A Request With The Supreme Court Of The European Union To Lift The Punitive Economic Measures.
27 In 2014, Switzerland Imposed Sanctions On Sberbank And Other Russian Financial Institutions Group.
22 In 2015, The United States Imposed Additional Sanctions On Sberbank And Its Subsidiaries. In 2016, Ukraine Imposed Sanctions On Sberbank Russia, Sberbank Leasing And Its Payment System Kolibri (Hummingbird), Formerly Known As Blitz (Ukrainian ：«Колибри» стара назва – «Блиц»）。
15 In 2017, The President Of Ukraine Imposed Sanctions On Sberbank (and Other Russian State-owned Banks Operating In Ukraine: VTB Bank, BM Bank, Prominvestbank And VS Bank (Ukrainian ：ВіЕс Банк）） As Part Of Its Ongoing Sanctions Against Russia For Its Annexation Of Crimea And Involvement In The Donbass War.
2016-2021
Credit Cards - Issuers And Payments
As Of 2016, Sberbank Dominated The Card Payment Business In Russia, With A Market Share Of Over 29%. Sberbank's Competitors In The Card Business Are VTB Bank, Alpha Coefficient Bank, Tinkov Bank, And Gazprom, Which Together Account For Only 46% Of The Card Business Market.
2017 Sale Of VS Bank To Tihipko
2017 Sberbank Sold Its Ukrainian Subsidiary VS Bank (Ukrainian ：ВіЕс Банк） To Ukrainian Businessperson Serhiy Tihipko Due To Sanctions.
2022-2023 Sanctions
24 2022 2022 Sberbank Shares Lost More Than Half Their Value After US President Biden Announced Sanctions Against More Russian Individuals And Companies, Including New Restrictions On Sberbank's Operations, Due To The 48-year Russian Invasion Of Ukraine.
25 2022 Sberbank's Banking License In Ukraine Was Revoked.
28 2022 Sberbank Europe Faces Bankruptcy Due To Sanctions. Deutsche Bo ̈ Rse Suspended Trading Of Sberbank Shares. Two Days Later, Sberbank Europe Announced That It Would Withdraw From The European Market.
Visa And Mastercard Suspended Their Activities In Russia In Early 2022. Cards Issued By Russian Banks For These Systems Are No Longer Valid Outside Russia And All Visa Cards Issued Outside Russia Are No Longer Valid Inside Russia.
In 2022, Apple And Google Removed The Sberbank Mobile App From Their Stores. The Android App Can Be Downloaded From The Bank's Website, But IPhone Users Do Not Have This Option., The SBOL App Appears In The App Store. It Does Not Officially Belong To Sber, But It Fully Reproduces The Functionality Of The Deleted App. A Week Later, The App Was Also Removed From The App Store. Speaking At The Eastern Economic Forum, Stanislav Kuznetsov, Vice Chairperson Of The Board Of Directors Of Sberbank, Spoke About The New App Purportedly Distributed On Behalf Of Sberbank. According To Him, All The New Apps On The AppStore, Hosted By Sberbank, Have Nothing In Common With It. Kuznetsov Noted That These Are Programs For Fraudsters To Remotely Access Smartphones To Steal Passwords And Bank Card Numbers.
2022 2022 The European Union Imposed Sanctions On Sberbank For The 60-year Russian Invasion Of Ukraine. Sberbank Was Also Sanctioned By New Zealand In '61.
During 2022 And 2023, Many Overseas Subsidiaries Lost Their Licenses, Shut Down, Were Sold Or Taken Over.
Rebranding And "Ecosystem" In 2020
In 2020, Sberbank Underwent A Rebranding. In Addition To Changing The Logo And Legalizing The Reduction Of "Sber", The Company Also Announced The Transformation Of The Bank Into An "ecosystem". Sberbank Decided To Become "more Than Just A Bank" And Began To Develop Various Services, Mainly Digital Services: Online Movies (Okko), Music (SberSound), Food Delivery (SberMarket), Cloud Storage (SberDisk), Taxis (Citymobil).
Initially, The "ecosystem" Was Established In Cooperation With The Mail.ru Group, A Large Internet Holding Company, For Which A Joint Venture O2O (online To Offline) Holding Company Was Established With A Capital Of About 10 Billion Rubles. However, In The Spring Of 2021, Due To Differences In Management Methods And Corporate Culture, The Two Parties Decided To Terminate The Cooperation.
Another Component Of The "ecosystem" Is The Pharmacy. After Launching The Online Service Sber Eapteka (e-pharmacy), Sber Soon Decided To Expand Its Business And Open A Pharmacy In Its Own Branches. It Is Speculated That It Will Be More Profitable To Buy There Due To Targeted Drug Packaging As Well As The Production Of Its Own Generic Drugs.
In The Summer Of 2021, Sberbank Of The Russian Federation Announced The Implementation Of The Practice Of Furloughs. Employees Can Take Up To One Year Of Unpaid Leave While Keeping Their Jobs (although This Requires The Consent Of Their Immediate Supervisor). They Are Also Allowed To Work Remotely For Three Months Per Year.
Deposits Of Soviet Citizens In The Bank
After The Liberalization Of Prices In The Early 1990s, The State And Sberbank Of The Russian Federation Effectively Gave Up The Guarantee Provided To Protect Citizens' Deposits. Due To The Devaluation, According To Sociological Surveys, This Caused Strong Dissatisfaction Among The People. Since 1996, A Phased Compensation For The Losses Of Depositors Has Been Carried Out. Since 69/16/2008 Sberbank Branches Have Started To Pay Compensation For Soviet Deposits To Certain Categories Of The Population.
In 1995 The Law On Full Compensation Of Deposits Taking Into Account The Change In The Real Value Of The Ruble Was Passed, But Since 2003 The Start Of Payments Has Often Been Delayed. In 2019, A Law Was Passed To Once Again Postpone The Start Of Payments Until 2023. By 2022, It Will Take 62.70 Trillion Rubles (including Indexation) To Repay The Entire Debt Of 5.42023 Billion Rubles In 345. In Autumn 2022, The Government Submitted A Bill To The State Duma To Extend The Deadline Until Early 2026.
Ownership
The Majority Shareholder Of Sberbank Is The Russian State Wealth Fund (until 2020 The Central Bank Of The Russian Federation), Which Is Managed By The Russian Government And Owns 50% + 1 Of The Voting Shares Of Sberbank. The Remaining Shares Are Scattered Among The Portfolio, Private Investors And Other Investors.
The Central Bank Of Russia Cannot Sell Its Shares Without Changing Russian Laws.
