Sberbank Opens Doors: We Will Focus More on Larger Corporations

Volksbank changed its name to Sberbank on January 18, 2013, officially marking the beginning of the bank’s rebranding process.

The name change was registered on January 18, 2013, in the Register of Business Entities at the Commercial Court of the Republic of Croatia.

As communicated by Sberbank, the business will continue to be directed towards citizens and small and medium-sized enterprises, but will also intensively focus on the market of larger corporate clients, primarily companies operating with Russian and CIS countries’ markets, as well as Russian companies doing business with Croatia or interested in investments in the Republic of Croatia.

Additionally, they note that thanks to the stability, financial strength, and technological advancement of the strong new owner, Sberbank will be able to offer clients a full range of new, innovative products and a variety of additional benefits and conveniences in the coming years.

– “Thanks to the stability, financial strength, and technological advancement of our new strong owner – Sberbank – we will be in a unique position to offer our clients even better, technologically advanced, and more comprehensive services, as well as simplify business with CIS countries and the Russian market, and then with all other European and global markets where Sberbank operates,” said Sberbank CEO Andrea Kovacs-Wöhry.

When asked about plans in the region, they state that since Sberbank completed the acquisition of the Volksbank International AG group (now Sberbank Europe AG) in February 2012, a comprehensive transformation process has been initiated in the holding company in Vienna and all subsidiary banks in Central and Eastern European countries, aimed at creating a leading, highly efficient, modern banking group in the CEE region that will be fully oriented towards the needs of its clients.

– “In combination with local expertise in subsidiary banks and a focus on client needs, Sberbank Europe is a unique partner in the CEE region due to its ability to build a bridge to Eastern markets, including Russia and the CIS countries,” the bank stated.

The acquisition of the former VBI group (now Sberbank Europe) was completed on February 15, 2012, acquiring 296 new branches and over 600,000 clients in eight CEE countries (Croatia, Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Hungary, Slovakia, Czech Republic, Ukraine) and the group’s headquarters in Austria. The completion of the acquisition also initiated the transformation process of all subsidiary banks with the strategic goal of creating a leading banking group in the Central and Eastern European region.

Sberbank is the largest Russian bank, accounting for nearly one-third of the total assets of the Russian banking market. The founder and majority owner of Sberbank is the Central Bank of Russia with 50% + 1 share with voting rights. The remaining shares of the bank are owned by more than 245,000 small shareholders – legal and natural persons as well as institutional investors from the country and the world. The bank manages the largest network of branches in Russia with nearly 19,000 branches, as well as representative offices in more than 20 countries worldwide, including CIS countries, Central and Eastern Europe, and Turkey.