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Russia's Sberbank sees 50% increase in Chinese businesses opening accounts in past year
June 19 (Reuters) - The number of Chinese small and medium-sized businesses opening bank accounts with Russia's largest lender Sberbank ( opens new tab has risen by 50% in the past year, Sberbank's First Deputy CEO Alexander Vedyakhin said on Thursday.
Trade between Russia and China has soared since Western countries shunned Moscow over the conflict in Ukraine, surging to a record 1.74 trillion yuan ($239 billion) last year, based on Chinese customs data, despite payment disruptions caused by Western sanctions.
Sberbank has a representative office in China and has opened a centre in Russia's far eastern port city of Vladivostok to develop business between Russian and Chinese companies.
Vedyakhin, speaking at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum, said a Chinese language tutorial on starting a business in Russia, created by Sberbank, had helped to attract Chinese companies.
Foreign direct investment into Russia has fallen sharply, U.N. data published on Thursday showed, and Russia's premier economic forum this week is offering scant hope of a revival, with Western investors largely absent and limited investment from friendly countries including China.
Also at the forum, Russia's second-largest bank, VTB ( opens new tab, said its Shanghai branch had grown into a fully-fledged bank, expanding its customer base.
