MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia’s largest lender Sberbank on Friday reported record annual profits of 1.56 trillion roubles ($15.22 billion)for 2024, helped by strong growth in corporate borrowing and high interest rates, which ended the year at 21%.
Sberbank made a 1.5 trillion rouble profit in 2023, a more than fivefold increase on the previous year.
According to Russian accounting standards, Sberbank’s profits increased by 4.6% year on year in 2024 and its return on equity stood at 23.4%.
The central bank’s tight monetary policy, while helping banks in terms of the interest level they can charge, has led to a slowdown in lending.
“In December, under pressure from the Bank of Russia’s tight monetary policy and banking sector regulations, for the first time since 2022, there was a decrease in the retail and corporate portfolios in real terms, by 0.1%,” CEO German Gref said in a statement.
($1 = 102.50 roubles)
(Reporting by Elena Fabrichnaya in Moscow and Alexander Marrow in London; editing by Christian Schmollinger and Jason Neely)
