OREANDA-NEWS. December 28, 2009. Russia’s largest public bank, Sberbank, will have to keep on raising NPL provisions in 2010 in order to buoy the economy that was hard hit by the crisis in 2009, Sberbank CEO and board chairman German Gref said. In particular, Gref projects provision charges at Sberbank to increase by 2.5-4% against late 2009. By the end of 2009, in line with his expectations, Sberbank’s loan-impairment provisions could total 10.5% of the credit portfolio.

“Sberbank’s business activity has great significance for the whole Russian economy, and it was critically important for us to maintain lending at a robust rate during the whole crisis period”, Gref commented on his estimates. “We will have to raise provision charges in 2010, especially in the first half of the year. As for full-year 2009, our overall provisions are likely to reach 10.5% of the credit portfolio”, he said. At present, according to Gref, Sberbank puts aside roughly USD 1 bn for NPL provisions every month, a record amount on record for Sberbank.