Sberbank Rossii : CIB announces the results of its trade finance, documentary operations and settlement business in 2016 and plans for 2017

December 29, 2016, Moscow - In 2016, Sberbank was recognised for its trade finance, documentary and settlement business activities in Russia and globally. The Bank was named Best Trade Bank in Russia by Trade & Forfaiting Review at its TFR Excellence Awards. These awards celebrate the best in trade finance in each region based on the number and volume of deals, client testimonials and examples of outstanding achievement when rendering these services.

In 2016, the international Sberbank Group completed more than $31 bln worth of trade finance and documentary business deals, an increase of 11% year-on-year.

Over the year Sberbank has developed its letters of credit line of business. A breakthrough was made in the documentary business, with the most growth taking place in settlements with rouble-denominated Russian letters of credit. In 2016, more than RUB 420 bln worth of these transactions were completed, a 45% increase compared to 2015. The Bank continued to enhance its product suite: more than RUB 2 bln worth of payments were made using the new product Russian unsecured letters of credit with advance payment. In total over RUB 100 bln worth of unsecured letters of credit were issued in 2016.

The volume and number of deals involving export-import transactions have also grown, in particular the volume of letters of credit with post-import financing issued in 2016 increased by more than two-fold versus 2015.

As of the end of 2016, the overall portfolio of deals completed by Sberbank with insurance coverage provided by the Russian Agency for Export Credit and Investment Insurance (EXIAR) exceeded RUB 226 bln. Sberbank participated in the development of EXIAR's programme to insure loans used to create export-focused enterprises. Under this programme the Bank completed the largest transaction with EXIAR coverage - Yamal LNG (Sberbank's participation amounts to €2.7 bln). In addition to this, optimisation of other conditions of EXIAR's programme to support exporters, including increasing the size of insurance coverage, helped clients from the SME segment to receive financing with more favourable conditions.

Sberbank consistently and actively developed cooperation with foreign banks and export credit agencies (ECAs) in Western Europe and Asia in 2016. This year Sberbank concluded around €250 mln worth of loan agreements with ECA insurance coverage.

Sberbank is confidently gaining ground on the international commodity trade finance market via Sberbank (Switzerland) AG: key indicators for this line of business, including income, grew threefold compared to 2015. As of the end of the year the volume of business exceeds $1.75 bln.

In 2016, every month around 10.6 mln payments were made in roubles and foreign currencies via loro correspondent accounts opened at Sberbank, an increase of 2.1 mln compared to 2015. The average monthly volume of transactions in 2016 was around RUB 16.7 tln, which is RUB 3.7 tln more than in 2015.

Sberbank intensively developed digital channels in 2016: throughout the year the Sberbank FinLine remote banking system for financial institutions was deployed. The system allows clients to receive a range of services via a single point of access, including the primary settlement function, receipt of information about the movement of funds, current liquidity, etc., and receive payment statuses in real time. Currently 113 credit organisations have connected to FinLine, and 295 accounts are serviced in various currencies.

September 2016 saw the launch of the global trade finance platform, which was developed by the Bank. By transferring to the new platform, clients from all segments can receive a new level of service for foreign economic activity via remote access channels. In addition, it allows the majority of transactions to be performed online and complete information about transactions to be received. Three versions of the platform have been released so far, and it is planned to further enhance its functionality.

Sberbank sees the following as primary growth drivers in 2017: development of digital sales channels and innovative products and services that meet the primary needs of clients; increasing the number of operations in national currencies; servicing domestic trade flows using letters of credit (including letters of credit settlements with individuals); commodity trade finance; and bringing principally new products and services to the market that are adapted to fit the changing macroeconomic and geopolitical situation.

# # #

Sberbank

Alexander Baziyan

Press Office

Tel. +7 (495) 957 5721

media@sberbank.ru

Sberbank is Russia's largest bank and a leading global financial institution. Sberbank holds almost one third of aggregate Russian banking sector assets, it is the key lender to the national economy and the biggest deposit taker in Russia. The Central Bank of the Russian Federation is the founder and principal shareholder of Sberbank owning 50% of the Bank's authorized capital plus one voting share, with the remaining 50% held by domestic and international investors. Sberbank has more than 135 million individual customers and more than 4 million corporate clients in 20 countries. Sberbank has the largest distribution network in Russia with almost 17,000 branches, and its international operations include UK, US, CIS, Central and Eastern Europe, India, China, Turkey and other countries.

The Bank holds the general banking license No.1481 issued by the Bank of Russia. Official websites of the Bank: www.sberbank.com (Sberbank Group website), www.sberbank.ru.