President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Gref, our main topic today is Sberbank’s performance in the first six months of the year. However, considering that you and I talk quite often, I know that the bank runs many investment and social projects.
Go ahead, please.
CEO and Chairman of the Management Board of Sberbank German Gref: Mr President, there wasn’t a single analyst who predicted such significant economic growth. In fact, they expected this indicator to be around one or two percent, while we are currently anticipating GDP to increase by 3.8 percent by the end of the year. Salaries have been on the rise too, with an increase of over 8 percent in the first six months, while household incomes increased by about 6 percent. Therefore, there is growing demand for our services, including loans. Overall, we exceeded our own forecast in terms of expanding our lending portfolio this year as well.
Vladimir Putin: And all this despite the level of the key interest rate?
German Gref: Despite the high key interest rate, we made 769 billion rubles in the first six months of the year, under Russian Accounting Standards, and somewhat more under IFRS. This amounts to a 6 percent increase compared to last year.
Overall, the return on equity stands at 22.9 percent, which meets our forecasts.
Meanwhile, we have been attracting more customers among both corporate clients and in the retail segment, while our lending portfolio has been expanding. For example, in the first six months, our lending portfolio increased by about 6 percent to 11 trillion rubles. We expected the mortgage sector to grow at a much slower pace this year, but the first six months were a huge success.
We can see that investments are growing. Paradoxically, you are absolutely right, it would seem that the first type of lending to begin shrinking with the high Central Bank rate is investment lending. However, we issued about a trillion rubles in investment loans during the first six months of the year, and the volume of investment transactions currently in progress is about a 25 percent higher than last year. In many ways, this is a paradox; it should not be like this, but so far, the company’s investment activity has been very high. Of course, government investment is also growing, but this is not the only reason, as we are seeing a large increase in private investment.
This year, we will pay a total of about 1.2 trillion rubles in taxes and dividends. This is an absolute record. We have already paid about 750 billion rubles in dividends. In fact, everything is developing quite positively so far.
Vladimir Putin: Perhaps people are starting to realise (I mean the growth of private investment) that it is better to keep everything at home. The developments in recent years have shown exactly this.
German Gref: You know, the capital outflow is overall about half of what it was before, and this is also a source of investment.
Mr President, you instructed us to open School 21. We have opened schools in Magadan and Anadyr, and they have already opened.
School 21 trains the best engineering personnel in the market. Why is this good? This means free education, no age limits, and no educational restrictions. The most important thing is to be highly motivated to obtain a digital engineering degree.
Vladimir Putin: What year did you start this project?
German Gref: We began in 2016, when we invested a significant amount of money in creating the School 21 platform.
Now to our second project. We have opened two parks and two fountains in two Russian cities; there are 30 in total. We provide all the equipment and videos about musical culture with the fountain. Together with the Bolshoi and Mariinsky theatres, we have opened Glinka Park and a fountain in Smolensk, where the great composer Mikhail Glinka was born, in the year of his 220th birthday. A huge number of people went there with the governor, and the Mariinsky and Bolshoi theatres put on a magnificent performance together. After the show, we inaugurated the park and the fountain. It was a big celebration for the city residents. We received very positive feedback from the people.
Vladimir Putin: Manzherok, too?
German Gref: Mr President, thank you for your support, particularly in creating all the conditions and developing the airport and infrastructure in Gorny Altai.
We are currently developing a resort that has the potential to become the biggest of its kind. In fact, we want it to be the world’s best ski resort. We have taken into account all the parameters that define what makes a good ski resort in Europe, the United States, and Latin America, and our goal is to comply with all these metrics in order to create the best resort.
As of today, we have already opened 40 kilometres of slopes, and offer 400 hotel rooms. We are now designing the airport, and its construction will begin as soon as this year. I would like to thank the Government for widening the runway and the road.
Vladimir Putin: You are talking about Gorno-Altaisk, right?
German Gref: Yes, Gorno-Altaisk.
Vladimir Putin: It has a mountainous terrain. Is expanding the runway an option there?
German Gref: Yes, we can add 500 metres to the runway, which would enable all types of aircraft, even the Il-96 to land there. However, there are certain restrictions regarding weight capacity. The aircraft cannot land there while carrying 100 percent of their weight-lifting capacity. That said, any kind of aircraft would be able to land there.
We have been using a concession agreement with the Government to add these 500 metres to the runway. In addition, we are building new aprons and will have a cutting-edge airport there. The project has already been approved, and we have coordinated it with the local authorities, the new acting Governor and the Government. This is to say we have been very effective in our efforts and we are all in this together.
Thank you for your support and for providing an impetus. I think that this region and Gorny Altai will change so much in a matter of just a few years that you would hardly recognise them. Overall, our plan consists of having about 200 kilometres of skiing slopes there and creating some 15,000 new jobs.
Vladimir Putin: Did you want to show me something?
German Gref: If I may, I have a video clip I wanted to show you.
(Launches video projection).
This is the existing hotel, and this is the one we have designed. I think that the villas will be ready by the end of the year. All these facilities are in the existing hotel too, including a SPA covering 5,000 square metres inside this hotel.
Vladimir Putin: It already exists, right?
German Gref: All these facilities are already there, while we will start building the airport in late 2024. This is the hotel whose roof will serve as a ski slope. Here, you can see a museum and an art gallery, and there will also be a four-kilometre embankment along the lake – we will open it by the end of the year. There will be an all-season 26-hectare Family Adventure Park and a park for children operating in both summer and winter. We will finish the park’s first stage this year.
All you can see here already exists. We have over 40 kilometres of skiing slopes, bike paths and footpaths. And we make sure that everything we do is eco-friendly. We will do our best to emphasise what makes Altai so special in all our undertakings.
Vladimir Putin: Good. Thank you.
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