OREANDA-NEWS. September 22, 2011. Sberbank of Russia entered into a general business cooperation agreement with Mizuho Corporate Bank, Ltd. (MHCB; Yasuhiro Sato, President & CEO) and ZAO Mizuho Corporate Bank (Moscow). The cooperation agreement covers a wide range of investment and commercial banking business, reported the press-centre of Sberbank.

This cooperation agreement is aimed at fostering closer cooperation in financial services to assist Japanese companies in Russia. The parties may consider various ways to support Japanese corporate clients in Russia and CIS countries including financing for Japanese related projects. Sberbank expects the aggregate amount of financings for such Japanese related projects over the next few years could be up to USD 500MM, with the agreement of MHCB.

MHCB will seek to provide a full range of support to its Japanese clients, many of whom already have established businesses in Russia or who are conducting business with Russian companies. Sberbank and MHCB will be able to offer a variety of services such as Ruble-denominated remittances, Ruble-denominated loans and other financing, trade finance, and project finance to their corporate clients.

On the signing ceremony Andrey Donskikh, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Sberbank, said:
“This agreement represents the unique one that Sberbank has ever entered with a Japanese financial institution. Execution of the Cooperation  Agreement is an important step towards strengthening relationship between our institutions contributing to further development of bank’s product line for corporate clients.”

Mr. Atsushi Narikawa, Managing Executive Officer, Head of Europe, Middle East and Africa, said: “Together with other Mizuho Financial Group companies, MHCB aims to take advantage of this cooperation agreement to support its clients by fully meeting their financial needs as they continue to develop their business in Russia and CIS countries.”