CEO says Sberbank to raise deposit rates soon

MOSCOW, Sep 14 (PRIME) -- Russia’s top bank Sberbank will increase the deposit interest rates soon, CEO German Gref told reporters on Tuesday.

“We have started to correct our interest rates for deposits. In August, we made a decision about a promotional offer, and will make corresponding decisions until the end of the year, of course, we will raise rates for some of our products,” he said.

The issue of interim dividends is not currently important for Sberbank, Gref added.

The CEO also said that Sberbank is considering various scenarios of the future of its Ukraine-based unit.

“We are in a state of high uncertainty, unfortunately… We are considering various options, and will possibly be able to decide something until the end of 2021… It is a sensible topic for us, and we have no evident decisions yet,” he said.

“As to Ukraine, we have a court decision considering a ban for the use of our brand, and we are presently renaming our unit. New sanctions have become effective since July 1, which make the sale very complicated for us,” he added.

Sberbank does not rule out that it will sell off some assets of its ecosystem if they are not popular with the clients, but so far all of them have been developing well, Gref also said.

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