Russia's Sberbank reports record 2024 profit of $18.1 billion
MOSCOW, Feb 27 (Reuters) - Russia's largest lender Sberbank (SBER.MM), opens new tab reported on Thursday a record annual profit of 1.58 trillion roubles ($18.1 billion) after corporate and retail lending coped well with steadily increasing interest rates to 21%.
The central bank's high key rate has boosted banks' net interest margins, but is so high now that lending growth is starting to slow as companies cut back on investment and individuals prefer to hold funds on deposit.
Profit for 2024 rose 4.8% from the previous year, the bank said.
"The corporate loan portfolio grew by 19% year on year to over 27.7 billion roubles," CEO German Gref said in a statement. "The retail portfolio grew more moderately under pressure from high rates and stricter regulation and grew 12.7% for the year, amounting to 18.1 trillion roubles."
Net interest income for 2024 reached 3 trillion roubles, up 17% year on year. Return on equity (ROE) dropped by 1.3 percentage points to 24% for 2024 as a whole. In 2025, the bank sees ROE at above 22%.
Sberbank dominates Russia's banking sector with almost 110 million retail clients and more than 3 million corporate clients.
The sector's profits hit a record 4 trillion roubles last year, though the central bank has warned that profits will slip to 3-3.5 trillion roubles in 2025 as credit risks grow and margins are squeezed.
No. 2 lender VTB Bank (VTBR.MM), opens new tab this week reported record annual profit as well, but said it would not recommend a dividend as high rates and new regulation dampen this year's earnings outlook.
Gref said that global volatility meant he could not guarantee that state-owned Sberbank would pay dividends for the next three years, but said the bank would distribute 50% of net profit to shareholders as planned for 2024, offering a huge boost to Russia's budget revenue.
Sberbank casts itself as a technology company and has made hefty investments in areas like artificial intelligence (AI), as Russia seeks technological sovereignty in the face of sweeping Western sanctions over its actions in Ukraine.
Gref said 2024 marked an important milestone for Sberbank as it integrated AI into more of the bank's systems and said the bank was developing in technology areas faster than it could have imagined.
($1 = 87.5000 roubles)
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
6 hours ago
- Reuters
US wholesale inventories in April revised higher
WASHINGTON, June 9 (Reuters) - U.S. wholesale inventories increased in April amid stockpiling of prescription medication in anticipation of tariffs from the Trump administration. Stocks at wholesalers rose 0.2% instead of being unchanged, as estimated last month, the Commerce Department's Census Bureau said on Monday. Economists polled by Reuters had expected last month's estimate would be unrevised. Inventories, a key part of gross domestic product, climbed 0.3% in March. They advanced 2.3% on a year-over-year basis in April. Wholesale stocks of prescription medication surged 1.3% in April. There were also increases in apparel, motor vehicle, groceries and professional equipment inventories. President Donald Trump has said he would impose tariffs on imports of pharmaceutical products that have long been spared from past trade disputes due to the potential for harm to patients. Apart from drugmakers, businesses front-loaded imports in the first quarter, seeking to avoid Trump's sweeping duties on foreign goods, resulting in a large trade deficit that subtracted a record 4.90 percentage points from GDP. The front-running faded in April, leading to a record decline in imports and the overall trade deficit. While the contraction in the deficit at face value suggests trade could significantly add to gross domestic product in the second quarter, economists say some of the boost could be offset by low inventories. Inventory accumulation increased at a rate of $163.0 billion in the first quarter. The economy contracted at a 0.2% annualized rate in the January-March period, the first GDP decline in three years. It grew at a 2.4% pace in the fourth quarter. Sales at wholesalers edged up 0.1% in April after jumping 0.8% in March. At April's sales pace it would take wholesalers 1.30 months to clear shelves, unchanged from March.
Reuters
7 hours ago
- Reuters
Brazil inflation estimated to have edged down in May
June 9 (Reuters) - Brazil's inflation is estimated to have edged down in May as a persistent rise in food and beverage prices took a break, a Reuters poll found. Food inflation has begun to cool due to a large supply of foodstuffs from a good crop and rising cattle farming, coupled with the commercial impact of a bird flu outbreak leading to a glut on the domestic market. Official data to be published on Tuesday will likely show inflation ran at a 0.33% monthly rate and 5.40% in the 12 months to May, according to median estimates of 19 economists polled June 4-9. This would mark a decline from April's 0.43% monthly rate and 5.53% for the 12-month reading, the fastest annual clip since February 2023. UBS analysts noted May's trajectory was driven by an energy price hike, while "(monthly) food inflation is likely to print close to zero, as it reaches its low season of May-August." "Fresh food may already show prices falling, contributing 4 basis points to the downside", the bank's economists added. Bi-weekly figures last month reflected price falls in categories like grains, fruits and vegetables as well as low increases in flour and milk. Also, chicken prices dropped around 7% since the start of the bird-flu event, Brazil's Agriculture minister said last week. Exporters redirected poultry products to domestic consumers after a slew of international bans. Still, the 12-month inflation gauge is set to come in for the 8th consecutive month above the government's target of 3% plus/minus 1.5 percentage points. Beyond food and energy trends, services have been a key factor behind Brazil's sticky inflation recently, with a resilient job market pushing up the sector's costs. However, core services inflation probably moderated to a 0.35% monthly rate in May from 0.61% in April, Barclays said in a report. This would support growing views the economy is slowing down, a process expected to become clearer in the second half of the year. The nascent deceleration is the result of a monetary tightening campaign that last month brought up Brazil's benchmark interest rate to 14.75%, a near-two decade high. The central bank is maintaining a data-driven approach for its June rate-setting meeting, without committing to a specific policy path, governor Gabriel Galipolo said on Saturday.
Reuters
8 hours ago
- Reuters
OPEC oil output in May rises less than planned, Reuters survey finds
LONDON, June 9 (Reuters) - OPEC oil output rose in May by less than the volume planned, a Reuters survey found, as Iraq made further cuts to compensate for earlier pumping above target and Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates made smaller hikes than allowed. The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries pumped 26.75 million barrels per day last month, up 150,000 bpd from April's total, the survey showed on Monday, with Saudi Arabia making the largest increase. OPEC+, which comprises OPEC and its allies, including Russia, is accelerating its plan to unwind its most recent layer of output cuts. At the same time, some members are required to make extra cuts to compensate for earlier overproduction, in theory limiting the impact of the hikes. Under an agreement by eight OPEC+ members covering May output, the five of them that are OPEC members - Algeria, Iraq, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates - were to raise output by 310,000 bpd. According to the survey, the actual increase by the five was 180,000 bpd, as compensation cuts by Iraq and lower exports by Saudi Arabia limited the increase. The biggest hike of 130,000 bpd came from Saudi Arabia, the survey found. Iraq, which is under pressure to boost compliance with OPEC+ output quotas, curbed output, the survey found, to meet its commitment for compensation cuts in May. The United Arab Emirates also pumped below its OPEC+ quota in May, the survey found, to reflect the country's relatively low commitments for compensation cuts, a source with knowledge of the issue said. There is a wide range of estimates of output in Iraq and the UAE with many outside sources putting the countries' output higher the the countries themselves. While the Reuters survey and April data provided by OPEC's secondary sources show they are pumping close to the quotas, other estimates, such as those of the International Energy Agency, say they are pumping significantly more. The Reuters survey aims to track supply to the market and is based on flows data from financial group LSEG, information from other companies that track flows such as Kpler, and information provided by sources at oil companies, OPEC and consultants.
