OREANDA-NEWS. April 07, 2010. Bank Saint Petersburg announced FY 2009 IFRS results:

Financial highlights for FY 2009*:

•    Assets grew 9.2% compared with January 1, 2009 amounting to RUB 235.6 billion (USD 7.8 billion)

•    Revenues grew 36.4% to RUB 15.6 billion (USD 517.0 million) compared to FY 2008

•    Net interest income increased by 9.7% to RUB 10.4 billion (USD 344.5 million) compared to FY 2008

•    Net Income amounted to RUB 640.3 million (USD 21.2 million)

•    Cost/income ratio for FY 2009 is 25.1% (down 9.6 pp compared to FY 2008)

*The RUB-nominated figures are translated into USD at the official exchange rate quoted by the CBR for January 1, 2010 (USD 1.00 = RUB 30.19).

“The year 2009 became a real stress-test for the Russian banking sector. We are happy to discover new opportunities in the crisis period and to continue with our development. As a result our assets grew by 9% and our customer accounts – by 26%. High level of revenues was sufficient to create robust provisions and to stay profitable”, - Alexander Savelyev, Chairman of the Management Board, commented on the Bank’s FY 2009 results. – “At the year end, we attracted around USD 200 million through the public offering of the convertible preferred shares. With this deal we appeared to be the only Russian bank to raise equity from the market in the crisis year. Today our performance is showing consistent signs of gradual recovery and we are ready for further development”.

As at January 1, 2010, Bank Saint Petersburg was ranked 13th in terms of retail deposits and 17th in terms of assets among the Russian banks (Interfax ranking). Today, the Bank provides services for over 900,000 individuals and 35,000 corporates through its 36 offices in St. Petersburg, the Leningrad region, Moscow, Kaliningrad and Nizhniy Novgorod. As at January 1, 2010, the number of cards issued by the Bank exceeded 674,000; the number of ATMs amounted to 434.

Among the most significant events of the previous year were the deals to increase the Bank’s capital. In June, the Bank received the 10.5 years USD 75 million subordinated loan from EBRD; in August, it received the RUB 1,466 million subordinated loan from Vnesheconombank. In December 2009, the Bank attracted ca. USD 200 million through the offering of type A preferred shares.

In 2009, two Eurobond issues in the amount of USD 200 million, the RUB 1 billion bond issue as well as syndicated and bi-lateral loans in the amount of USD 113.7 million were successfully repaid.

The Bank’s Cost-to-Income Ratio for the FY 2009 improved by 9.6 percentage points to 25.1% compared to the FY 2008 result, which is one of the best results among the Russian banks. Bank’s operational expenses are maintained on the low level of RUB 3,773 million (-2.0% compared to FY 2008).

Net interest income increased by 9.7% compared to FY 2008 amounting to RUB 10.4 billion. Net interest margin (NIM) has stabilized at the level above 5% constituting 5.6% for 4Q 2009 and 5.2% for FY 2009. The recovery is attributed to the decrease in the expensive sources of funding in the Bank’s liabilities.

Financial markets operations. As at January 1, 2010, an aggregate result from financial markets operations amounted to RUB 2.9 billion comparing to RUB 103.2 million for FY 2008. The result is attributed to the gains from trading securities in the amount of RUB 1.7 billion (-RUB 1.3 billion for FY 2008) and the trading in foreign currencies in the amount of RUB 648.6 million (RUB 980.0 million for FY 2008). The foreign exchange translation gains amounted to RUB 579.5 million (RUB 381.5 million for FY 2008).

Income before provisions and taxes increased by 36.4% compared to FY 2008 and amounted to RUB 15.6 billion for FY 2009; income before provisions and taxes for 4Q 2009 increased by 12.3% to RUB 4.6 billion compared with RUB 4.0 billion for 4Q 2008. Net income for FY 2009 amounted to RUB 640.3 million; net income for 4Q 2090 amounted to RUB 366.8 million. The Bank’s return on equity for 4Q improved to 6.6%, the return on equity for FY 2009 amounted to 2.9%.

Liabilities. Customer accounts amounted to RUB 181.1 billion (+25.7% compared to January 1, 2009; +23.9% compared to October 1, 2009). At January 1 2010, 66% of customer accounts belonged to corporate customers and 34% - to individuals. During 2009, the volume of retail customer accounts increased by 23.9% while the volume of corporate customer accounts increased by 26.6%. The share of wholesale funding in liabilities remains insignificant (5.2%).

Equity and capital. As at January 1, 2010 the shareholders equity increased by 34.4% to RUB 25.3 billion mainly due to share premium from the type A preferred share issue and the retained income. The Bank’s total capital grew by 37.1% to RUB 33.2 billion from RUB 24.2 billion for January 1, 2009. As at January 1, 2010, the Bank’s Tier 1 and total capital adequacy ratios were 10.7% and 15.2% respectively.

As at January 1, 2001, Loan portfolio (before provisions) amounted to RUB 174.1 billion (+15.5% compared to January 1, 2009; +9.2% compared to October 1, 2009). As at January 1, 2010, corporate loans constituted 92% of the loan book, during FY 2009 their volume increased by 19.0% to RUB 159.5 billion. Loans to retail customers amounted to RUB 14.6 billion (-12.5% compared to January 1, 2009).

Loan portfolio quality. As at January 1, 2010, the share of overdue loans in the Bank’s portfolio amounted to 7.4% of the total volume of loans (0.73% as at January 1, 2009; 6.9% as at October 1, 2009). The share of the corporate overdue loans amounted to 7.1% (0.6% as at January 1, 2009; 6.7% as at October 1, 2009); the share of the retail overdue loans amounted to 10.1% (2.1% as at January 1, 2009; 9.4% as at October 1, 2009). Impaired not past due loans for January 1, 2010 constituted 7.1% of the total volume of loans (5.8% as at January 1, 2009; 10.5% as at October 1, 2009). The rate of provisions for loan impairment increased to 9.1% compared with 3.9% as at January 1, 2009.