Sberbank releases Financial Highlights for 1Q 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.

April 7, 2021

Key highlights for March:

• The Bank earned a record net profit of RUB103.3 bn.
• ROE came in at 24.9% and ROA at 3.6%.

• Retail loan portfolio growth accelerated to 2.2% led by mortgages and consumer lending.

• Retail client funding increased by 0.7%.

Alexandra Buriko, CFO, stated:

"The record result for March was driven by robust consumer activity, momentum in retail lending and the maintained quality of the loan portfolio. In 1Q 2021, net profit amounted to RUB282.5 bn and ROE reached 23.6%."

Comments for 1Q 2021:

Net interest income increased by 13.4% y/y and amounted to RUB376.1 bn. The increase was due to growth in working assets, as well as the decrease in allocations to deposit insurance fund, which was implemented in May 2020.

Net fee and commission income was RUB125.8 bn, up by 5.7% as compared to the same period last year, driven by income from bank cards operations and settlement transactions. The onset of the pandemic at the end of 1Q 2020 entailed a spike in consumption and knock-on effects on income from bank cards. Notwithstanding the high base of last year, income from bank cards grew by 17.5% y/y.

Operating expenses amounted to RUB149.2 bn and were up by 10.2% y/y. The dynamics owed to low level of operating expenses at the end of the similar period of 2020 due to the lockdown and slowdown in business activity as well as smoother calendarization for OpEx in 2021. Adjusted for this one-offs, OpEx growth in 1Q 2021 did not exceed 3% y/y. Cost-to-income ratio came in at 27.0%. 

Total provision charge including fair-value revaluation was RUB54.1 bn in 1Q 2021, or 80 bp Cost of Risk excluding the impact of FX revaluation. In March, provision charge amounted to RUB16.7 bn, including RUB4 bn FX-loan provisions without deterioration in asset quality. Loan-loss provisions stayed stable at 2.2 times that of the overdue loans. 

Net profit before income tax for 1Q 2021 was up by 29.5% y/y and came in at RUB349.6 bn, while net profit increased by 29.2% y/y and amounted to RUB282.5 bn.

Total assets in March increased by 3.0% to RUB34.4 trn driven by retail lending growth, investments in the OFZ bonds, and short-term liquidity management transactions.

The Bank issued more than RUB1.1 trn in loans to corporate clients in March. The corporate loan portfolio was up by 0.04% to RUB15.6 trn as of April 1, 2021. The portfolio was down by 0.2%, adjusted for FX revaluation, in light of significant redemptions in March.

Loan production to retail clients hit a record in the amount of RUB490 bn in March, both in mortgages and consumer unsecured loans. The monthly pace of retail portfolio growth accelerated to 2.2% vs. 1.2% in February. Total retail portfolio exceeded RUB8.8 trn as of April 1, 2021.

Share of overdue loans in total loan portfolio came down by 0.02 pp to 3.20% in March, driven by retail loans.

Securities portfolio was up by 1.7% to RUB5.2 trn in March from the purchases of the OFZ bonds.

Retail client funding in March increased by 0.7% to RUB15.5 trn from both Ruble current accounts and ending balances of the escrow accounts. Corporate client funding increased by 0.1% in March to RUB7.7 trn on FX fluctuations, excluding which the portfolio was down by 0.5%. The total client funding in March were up by 0.5% to reach RUB23.2 trn.

Core Tier 1 and Tier 1 capital increased in March from the inclusion of the audited net profit for 2020: Core Tier 1 capital increased by 20.6% to RUB4,310 bn, Tier 1 capital increased by 19.8% to RUB4,460 bn. 

Total capital grew by 1.6% for the month to RUB4,862 bn due to earnings for the period.

Risk-weighted assets* increased by 0.8% in March to RUB32.4 trn mainly due to retail loan portfolio. 

* preliminary calculations

Sberbank Financial Highlights for 1Q 2021 (under RAS, non-consolidated)