Minister: Central bank may give away stake in Sberbank

MOSCOW, Dec 24 (PRIME) -- The Russian government is discussing taking away central bank’s 52.32% stake in the country’s top bank Sberbank because it should not control the institutions that it regulates, First Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Anton Siluanov told reporters on Tuesday.

“The issue is actually under discussion, as there is a conflict of interests and no one wants it…It is under discussion as a financial regulator should not be the owner of the institutions it regulates and oversees…That it not a new topic,” he said, adding that no deadlines were set for the discussion.

The central bank currently owns several banks that it is bailing out, but Sberbank is the first bank that should be scrutinized from the point of view of liquidation of the conflict of interests. Nevertheless, the federal budget for 2020–2022 assumes that the central bank would transfer dividends from Sberbank to the budget, and this is another element of the discussion, he said.

The central bank can only reduce its stake in Sberbank to below 50% if a federal law is issued.

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