OREANDA-NEWS. Sberbank and Rusagro Group entered into a Strategic Cooperation Agreement at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum. On behalf of Sberbank the document was signed by Herman Gref, CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board, and on behalf of Rusagro Group – by Vadim Moshkovich, President.

The agreement envisages development of strategic cooperation between Sberbank and Rusagro Group in a number of areas, including provision of high-tech banking services, Sberbank’s financing of the company’s operations, and implementation of modern banking methods for managing financial resources and products.

Additionally, the document states that the parties are interested in developing cooperation in a number of areas, including effective placement of the company’s temporarily available funds, provision of a full range of banking services, including comprehensive servicing of the company’s Sberbank accounts, and provision of information and consultancy support.

The parties noted that the agreement is very important in the context of developing the long-standing mutually beneficial partnership between Sberbank and Rusagro. The agreement aims to increase the efficiency of both parties and will promote the strategic partnership and help realise landmark agricultural projects.

Sberbank is Russia’s largest bank and a leading global financial institution. Sberbank holds almost one third of aggregate Russian banking sector assets, it is the key lender to the national economy and the biggest deposit taker in Russia. The Central Bank of the Russian Federation is the founder and principal shareholder of Sberbank owning 50% of the Bank's authorized capital plus one voting share, with the remaining 50% held by domestic and international investors. Sberbank has more than 135 million individual customers and more than 1 million corporate clients in 22 countries. Sberbank has the largest distribution network in Russia with almost 17,000 branches, and its international operations include UK, US, CIS, Central and Eastern Europe, Turkey and other countries.