After acquiring the Austrian VBI in a deal worth 505 million euros in February last year, Russia’s largest bank Sberbank has also entered the Croatian market.
Andrea Kovacs-Wöhry, the CEO of the former Volksbank, now Sberbank Croatia, shares the plans and expectations of the new owner in an interview with Lider, which aims to achieve up to seven percent of total profits from international operations by the end of 2014. Currently ranked ninth among the largest banks in Croatia, the bank will primarily focus on strengthening its business with large corporations, while plans for expansion in the region, such as acquiring branches of Hypo bank, are not currently on the agenda.
Kovacs emphasizes that Sberbank is primarily interested in financing exports.
“There is a significant niche in financing business in the Russian market and the markets of former USSR countries, which no banking group in Croatia is focused on, but we are also interested in investment banking as well as new forms of sales channels and greater market accessibility,” Kovacs said for the new issue of Lider.
