OREANDA-NEWS. February 01, 2013. Russia’s Sberbank is developing an online banking offer for the German market. It could be implemented on the basis of the recently acquired Turkish Denizbank, says Sergey Gorkov, Sberbank’s deputy chairman. “Denizbank already has an online banking platform in Austria and Germany. We are only considering options for expanding the business.”

The parastatal Sberbank is by far the largest financial institution in Europe. It controls almost half of all Russian retail deposits and has been ranked as Europe’s fourth largest bank by market capitalisation with a margin from Deutsche Bank. Last year was the period of robust expansion for Sberbank. Not only Turkey’s Denizbank was purchased from the ailing French-Belgian Dexia Group. Another acquisition was Austria’s Volksbank International, a chain of banks in eight European countries.

Germany is another attraction for the Russians. The recently acquired Denizbank already has a branch in Frankfurt am Main. “For us not only operations in Russia are important, but also developing business abroad,” says Sergey Gorkov, who is responsible for Sberbank’s international operations. “Eastern Europe is the key direction for us. Western Europe is less important – except for Germany”.

Whether the possible future enterprise in Germany will operate as Denizbank or as Sberbank, Gorkov won’t say. By April a new strategy for both Turkish and European markets is to be developed. “We are looking for the best options”, claims the Deputy Chairman. “There are a lot of Turkish and Russian speakers in Germany. Now we should think of the best way to approach these groups.”