Russia’s Sberbank reports record Q1 profit, raises ROE forecast

MOSCOW, May 18 (Reuters) – Russia’s largest lender Sberbank (SBER.MM) on Thursday reported record first-quarter net profit of 357.2 billion roubles ($4.6 billion) and said its strong results and portfolio had led it to raise its 2023 return on equity forecast.

The central bank ordered Russian banks to limit disclosures soon after Moscow despatched troops to Ukraine in February 2022 and sweeping Western sanctions rattled Russia’s financial sector.

Sberbank did not provide a comparison with the year-ago period for most figures, but CEO German Gref said profits hit a record for the quarter.

“The strong results of the first quarter, the resilient quality of the loan portfolio and high operational efficiency give grounds for an increase in our return on equity forecast for 2023 to above 22%,” Gref said in a statement.

The bank said net interest income rose year-on-year to 562.8 billion roubles and net commission income for the quarter declined to 171.1 billion roubles on the back of the flurry of transactions in the same period last year.

The bank’s net interest margin climbed to 5.78% as borrowing rates normalised. The central bank raised its key interest rate to 20% last year before a series of rate cuts to the current level of 7.5%.

Already Russia’s dominant lender, state-owned Sberbank has become one of the country’s leading technology players, taking on an increasingly important role as sanctions and exiting rivals create gaps only a handful of firms can fill.

Shares in Sberbank were 0.3% higher at 0721 GMT, slightly underperforming the wider market.

($1 = 77.7205 roubles)

Reporting by Alexander Marrow; editing by Jason Neely

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