MOSCOW, November 9. /TASS/: Sberbank continues looking for ways to sell their subsidiary bank in Ukraine but the situation remains challenging, Chief Executive Officer of the Russian bank Herman Gref told reporters on Tuesday.
"We are proactively searching for an option to sell but we are under the whole bunch of challenging sanctions. Our bank is a very lucrative asset in Ukraine but we are in a complicated legal situation and have not found a deal suitable for us. We will endeavor to look for ways of leaving the market because we do not see further prospects for our presence there," Gref said.
Sanctions against Sberbank were introduced in Ukraine in spring 2017 and were extended by three years in March of this year.
Sberbank in Europe
According to Herman Gref, Sberbank also keeps plans of transferring their subsidiary banks in Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria to a uniform European license and will proceed with development of banks.
"We anticipate further development of banks in Germany and the Czech Republic. We assume further transfer of banks in the Czech Republic, Germany and Austria to the uniform European license and development of digital services on the territory of countries where we are present and further on, probably, for the wider geography of the European region," the top manager said. Sberbank does not have plans to sell the three remaining European subsidiary banks, Gref noted.
The deal on sale of subsidiary banks in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia and Slovenia announced earlier was prepared for a very long time, the top manager said. "We considered many prospective buyers and we see the package deal is much more beneficial," Gref said.
Last week, Sberbank said it had negotiated the sale of subsidiary banks in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia and Slovenia with the total assets of 7.329 bln euro, 162 offices and about 600,000 clients (as of 2020 year-end) with Serbia’s MK Group. The transaction will total about 500 mln euro, including the sale of shares and substitution of funding provided by Sber. The deal is expected to be approved in 2022.
