Business
Russia's Sberbank shareholders approve record $10 billion dividend payout
Russia's Sberbank shareholders approve record $10 billion dividend payout
About this update from Sberbank
By Elena Fabrichnaya and Alexander Marrow Shareholders of Russia's largest lender Sberbank RUS:SBER on Monday approved a record dividend payout of 786.9 billion roubles ($10.01 billion), the company said, with half of that to be diverted ultimately to Russia's federal budget. Sberbank is majority-owned by the state and its dividends make a sizeable contribution to Russia's budget revenues, enabling the government to keep up heavy spending, particularly on its war effort in Ukraine. In a statement published by Sberbank, Finance Minister Anton Siluanov said dividends from Russia's largest companies made an important contribution to the budget. "The record size of Sber's dividends will make it possible to increase the efficiency of state expenditure and ensure the stability of Russia's financial system," Siluanov said. The bank made a record annual net profit of 1.58 trillion roubles last year after corporate and retail lending coped well with steadily increasing interest rates to 21%. But high borrowing costs have now caused a lending slowdown as companies cut back on investment and individuals prefer to hold funds on deposit. Sberbank CEO German Gref said this month that the bank, which finances almost 60% of all investment projects in the country, has not financed a single new project since the new year. On Monday, Gref said 2025 had been a challenging year so far, but that the bank always strives to achieve results in spite of difficulties. "(Next year) also promises to be not the easiest, so we need to get in good shape in 2025 so as to not disappoint investors in 2026," Gref said. Sberbank's 2024 dividend amounts to 34.84 roubles per share. ($1 = 78.6000 roubles)