OREANDA-NEWS. Sberbank has released its interim condensed consolidated IFRS financial statements as at and for the 3 months ended 31 March 2016, with review report by Ernst & Young.

Net interest income was RUB325.5 bn in 1Q 2016, up by 62.5% from the year-ago period:

Interest income (up 9.1% to RUB613.0 bn compared to 1Q 2015) was driven by corporate lending, mortgages and securities portfolio;

Interest expenses including deposit insurance expenses decreased by 20.5% from 1Q 2015 to RUB287.5 bn. The cost of liabilities decreased by 30 basis points to 5.0% in 1Q 2016 relative to 4Q 2015, driven by both corporate and retail term deposits, cost of which came down by 50 basis points to 4.5% and by 20 basis points to 6.5% respectively.

The Group’s 1Q 2016 net fee and commission income came at RUB77.2 bn, up by 11.9% from the year-ago period.

The fee and commission income grew by 13.4% to RUB94.6 bn from the year-ago period. Income from the banking cards operations increased by 15.9% in 1Q 2016 from 1Q 2015;

The fee and commission expense grew by 20.8% to RUB17.4 bn in part by expansion of banking cards business.

Net provision charge for loan impairment for 1Q 2016 totaled RUB84.3 bn compared to RUB114.9 bn for 1Q 2015. This translated into the cost of risk of 170 basis points for the quarter versus 250 basis points a year ago.

The cost of risk for corporate loans halved to 146 basis points in 1Q 2016 relative to 4Q 2015, in part attributed to recovery progress on problem loans, refining provisioning methodology as well as ruble appreciation during the quarter;

The cost of risk for retail loans increased by 194 basis points to 243 basis points in 1Q 2016 relative to 4Q 2015, mostly affected by the adjustment in provisions related to methodology changes and seasonality.

Other non-interest expense came in at RUB25.1 bn mostly affected by net charge for other provisions of RUB15.8 bn for 1Q 2016 relating to change in estimation methodology for credit related and other commitments as well as net losses arising from trading operations and foreign currency translation primarily on treasury operations.

The Group's operating expenses for 1Q 2016 increased to RUB 143.8 bn, up by 2.9% from the same period a year ago; headcount decreased by 0.9% during the quarter.

Effective tax rate in 1Q 2016 reached 21.5%, down from 36.4% in 4Q 2015.