OREANDA-NEWS. October 29, 2012. Russian consumer savings giant Sberbank has found a way to attract Russians to its offices abroad: it automatic teller machines will no longer charge cash withdrawal fees. This is a costly practice for a bank, and among large international banking groups operating in Russia, fee-free withdrawals are offered only by Citibank and UniCredit Bank. However, Sberbank expects to recoup these costs with sales of other services, such as mortgage loans in the Czech Republic, Croatia and Turkey, reported the press-centre of Sberbank.

Now that it has acquired Turkey’s Denizbank and the East European Volksbank International, Sberbank intends to charge its clients only domestic fees in any country where it has a presence, Sberbank Deputy Chairman Sergei Gorkov told Kommersant. He said the new rule applies both to corporate and individual customers. In particular, Sberbank debit card holders will be able to withdraw cash without extra fees not only in Russia, but also abroad. At the same time, foreign clients will pay for cash withdrawals in Russia at the same rate they pay in their own countries.

The new approach may be beneficial for Russian Sberbank customers. There are no statistics on cash withdrawals by Russians abroad, but a pilot project launched in the CIS countries has shown that it works. “In the Crimea, for example, where there are many Russian tourists, Sberbank offices do a brisk business, where customers can access their cash without a fee or can receive or send a money order,” Gorkov said.

The same results, he said, can be expected in Turkey, where many Russian tourists go.

Currently, in addition to Russia, Sberbank has a presence in Turkey (through Denizbank) and in Europe (through Volksbank International): Austria, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Hungary, Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Slovenia. It also runs subsidiaries in Belarus, Kazakhstan and Ukraine, and has a branch in India and a representative office in China. There are 1,300 Sberbank offices in other countries.

Large international banking groups operating in Russia generally do not offer Russian customers their bank services abroad at domestic rates. The exceptions are Citibank and UniCredit Bank. “For several years now, holders of our bank cards have enjoyed special rates – which are consistent in most countries where we have a presence,” said Alexander Vishnyakov, UniCredit Bank director for card business and remote services. This, he said, increases the loyalty of customers, which makes it possible to offer them other services in foreign offices.”

Sberbank is thinking along the same lines. “We are now considering offering mortgage loans to Russian clients to buy real estate in other countries,” Gorkov said. “Both VBI and Denizbank have mortgage products and we are working out how to combine the services of these banks and the wishes of our citizens to purchase property abroad, in the Czech Republic, Croatia and Turkey, for example, where laws have been adopted allowing foreigners to own property. We’ll try to take all these things into consideration in our new strategy.”