SBER.L Regulatory News (SBER)

Sberbank releases Financial Highlights for January-February 2021

(under RAS, non-consolidated)

The numbers are calculated in accordance with Sberbank's internal methodology.

Please note that some minor changes became effective in Sberbank's internal methodology starting from January 1, 2021. Therefore, the numbers for 2020 have been recalculated to make them comparable.

The effect of subsequent events is excluded from the numbers as of January 1, 2021.

March 5, 2021

Key highlights for February:

Alexandra Buriko, CFO, stated:

"A revival of consumer activity and an improving economic environment are beneficial for our performance. It is noteworthy that the quality of the loan portfolio is getting better and net interest income remains stable. These factors, alongside discreet growth in operating costs, have ensured record levels of ROE and net profit. In February we saw an increase in retail deposits across all currencies, which forms a strong basis for lending expansion."

Comments for January-February 2021:

Net interest income increased by 13.8% as compared to January-February 2020 and amounted to RUB246.2 bn. Strong growth dynamics was driven by loans expansion, securities portfolio increase and lower cost of funding. Furthermore, there is a positive effect from reduced allocations to deposit insurance fund.

Net fee and commission income was RUB77.1 bn for the first two months 2021 up by 6.6% compared to the same period last year. The major driver was income from bank cards operations that was up by more than 15% y/y. 

Operating expenses amounted to RUB92.1 bn and were up by 5.3% as compared to January-February of the last year due to more even accounting for certain administrative and staff costs. 

Cost-to-income ratio comprised to 26.2% vs 25.2% a year ago. 

Total provision charge including fair-value revaluation and impairments related to purchased or originated credit-impaired loans was RUB37.4 bn in January-February. In February, there was a provision release on the amount of RUB1.1 bn mainly driven by the appreciation of Ruble against major currencies. Loan-loss provisions were 2.2 times that of the overdue loans as of March 1, 2021. 

Net profit before income tax is up by 16.9% y/y and came in at RUB222.3 bn in January-February 2021, while net profit increased by 14.5% and amounted to RUB179.2 bn.

Total assets in February increased by 0.3% to RUB33.4 trn excluding the FX revaluation.

The Bank issued RUB842 bn to corporate clients in February. The corporate loan portfolio was up by 0.7% to RUB15.5 trn as of March 1, 2021 excluding the effect of FX revaluation.

The Bank issued RUB368 bn to retail clients in February, of which over half was attributable to mortgages. Retail loan portfolio grew by 1.2% and exceeded RUB8.6 trn.

Share of overdue loans in total loan portfolio remained at 3.2%.

Securities portfolio was down by 1.3% to RUB5.1 trn in February from the FX revaluation and repayments of corporate bonds.

Retail client funding in February increased by 1.1% to RUB15.4 trn excluding the effect of the FX revaluation, demonstrating growth in the ending balances across the main foreign currencies.

Corporate client funding decreased by 1.2% in February to RUB7.7 tn excluding the effect from the FX revaluation.

The total client funding in February were up by 0.3% to reach RUB23.1 trn excluding the effect from the FX revaluation.

Core Tier 1 and Tier 1 capital little changed in February and stood at RUB3,571 bn and RUB3,721 bn respectively. The net profit for 2020 will be included in calculation of the Core Tier 1 and Tier 1 capital only upon annual audit. 

Total capital grew by 0.6% for the month to RUB4,784 bn mainly due to earnings for the period and the inclusion of subordinated bonds issued in January in additional capital, in accordance with the received approval of the Bank of Russia. The growth of total capital was restrained by the increase in the market yields of OFZs and the corresponding negative revaluation of the portfolio reflected at fair value through other comprehensive income.

Risk-weighted assets* were merely unchanged and came at RUB31.8 trn. 

* preliminary calculations

Sberbank Financial Highlights for January- February 2021 (under RAS, non-consolidated, excluding the effect of subsequent events)