OREANDA-NEWS. Sberbank CIB announces that Sberbank (Switzerland) AG has successfully delivered the first gold bullion consignments to Jaipur, Mumbai (on January 27) and New Delhi (on January 30) for Indian corporates who are authorised by the Indian Ministry of Commerce to import gold.

Sberbank CIB plans to expand its business relations with both corporate clients and financial institutions in India by growing its current customer base and increasing the number of precious metal delivery locations. In 2017 it is planned to deliver between 20 and 25 tonnes of gold to up to 20 locations throughout India.

In terms of counterparties, Sberbank (Switzerland) AG will work with official government-authorised companies and financial institutions that have been authorised by the Reserve Bank of India to offer gold and silver bullion to Indian consumers. Silver export operations will commence towards the end of Q1 2017.

Andrey Shemetov, Head of Global Markets at Sberbank CIB, Managing Director, commented: “Sberbank has always been a significant precious metals player in Russia. At the same time we are consistently taking steps to expand our international presence. Launching operations on Asian markets is another significant step in this direction. Last autumn we became a member of the Shanghai Gold Exchange International Board (SGEi), a global centre for the physical trade of gold. After China, India is the second largest consumer of gold in the world and is of paramount significance for increasing the scale of our global physical commodities business.”

Sberbank is one of the largest operators on the Russian precious metal market; providing a full suite of solutions for corporate clients and financial institutions across the precious metals spectrum and around the world. Commodity trading is one of Sberbank CIB’s strategic pillars and management is committed to making this division a major regional player.

To support these growth plans, Sberbank CIB continues to develop a commodity hub in Switzerland to complement and support its existing centre of precious metal trading in Moscow. This hub will have a strong focus on international physical deliveries of metal, financing of physical commodities routes throughout the globe and risk management solutions. This two-hub (Moscow and Zurich) strategy will offer significant flexibility to Sberbank Group and will allow it to act as a supplier from either location. Sberbank CIB has forecast a supply of 50 to 60 metric tonnes of gold bullion into the Asia region in 2017.

Sberbank CIB (Sberbank (Switzerland) AG is part of Sberbank CIB) is the corporate and investment banking business of Sberbank. Its key areas of activity are corporate finance (including trade finance), the documentary business investment banking services, trade operations with securities, and private equity. Sberbank’s corporate and investment banking business provides integrated financial solutions and investment advisory services to its clients, which include major corporations, financial institutions, sovereign states and federal and sub-federal government bodies and organisations.