OREANDA-NEWS. December 09, 2013. VTB Group publishes its Interim Condensed Consolidated Financial Statements as at 30 September 2013 with the Independent Auditor’s Report on Review of these Statements.

Andrey Kostin, VTB President and Chairman of the Management Board, said: "While macroeconomic factors continue to challenge financial institutions in our home market, VTB Group has achieved further healthy balance sheet growth and strong year-on-year performance on core income lines. At the same time, the Group has continued to build loan provisions, which affected the bottom line. We are encouraged by the progress we have made in executing on our non-core asset disposal strategy and de-risking plan around our principal positions, which is expected to further improve the stability of the Group’s earnings going forward.”

– VTB Group’s core income lines saw solid growth in 9M 2013, with net interest income and fee and commission income up 33.8% and 13.7% year-on-year, respectively.

– Net interest income growth during 9M 2013 was driven primarily by strong expansion of the Group's loan book (in particular a 26.5% year-to-date increase in retail gross loans as of 30 September 2013), as well as by stable interest margins.

– Net interest margin (NIM) was 4.4% in 9M 2013 vs. 4.0% during 9M 2012. In 3Q 2013, the Group’s NIM was 4.5%, up 10 bps vs. 4.4% in 2Q 2013.

– Retail Banking and Transaction Banking continued to be key drivers of the Group's fee and commission income growth, contributing RUB 19.8 billion and RUB 12.7 billion or 50.5% and 32.4%, respectively, to the Group's total net fee and commission income before inter-segment eliminations in 9M 2013.

– On the back of an overall macroeconomic slowdown, the Group’s cost of risk was 1.7% for 9M 2013 vs. 1.3% for 9M 2012. The provision charge for impairment of debt financial assets increased year-on-year and was RUB 72.8 billion in 9M 2013 vs. RUB 45.0 billion in 9M 2012. In 3Q 2013, the provision charge for impairment of debt financial assets was RUB 22.1 billion, down 23.0% from RUB 28.7 billion in 2Q 2013.

– Staff costs and administrative expenses amounted to RUB 149.2 billion in 9M 2013, up 16.4% from RUB 128.2 billion in 9M 2012, largely due to the expansion of the Group's retail banking business.

– Expansion of the Group’s assets during 9M 2013 was driven mainly by robust loan book growth. As a result, the Group’s asset structure has improved further, with the share of net loans and advances to customers in total assets reaching 66.3% as of 30 September 2013, up from 63.0% as of 30 June 2013 and 64.2% as of 31 December 2012. The share of interest earning assets in the Group’s total assets increased to 83.4% as of 30 September 2013, up from 82.8% as of 30 June 2013 and 82.1% as of 31 December 2012.

– Customer deposits totalled RUB 4,323.5 billion as of 30 September 2013, up 13.4% from RUB 3,813.4 billion as of 31 December 2012.– Loan book quality was affected by macroeconomic factors and was in line with Russian banking sector trends in 9M 2013. The Group’s non-performing loans (NPLs) ratio was stable at 5.4% of total gross loans (including financial assets classified as loans and advances to customers pledged under repurchase agreements) as of 30 September 2013. The allowance for loan impairment as of 30 September 2013 amounted to 6.2% of the Group's total gross loans (including financial assets classified as loans and advances to customers pledged under repurchase agreements), up from 6.1% at the beginning of the year. The Group's NPL coverage ratio at 30 September 2013 was 115.2%, vs. 112.4% as of 31 December 2012.

– In line with its strategy of de-risking the balance sheet, VTB Group continued to successfully divest its major non-interest earning assets. In October 2013, VTB signed a framework agreement with Societe Generale to sell the Group's 10% stake in Rosbank. In the same month, the Group announced the sale of a 50% stake in Tele2 Russia, a leading domestic telecom operator acquired by the Group as a private equity investment in March 2013.

– The Group's total and Tier 1 capital adequacy ratios (CAR) as of 30 September 2013 were 14.1% and 10.3%, respectively, vs. 14.4% and 10.1% as of 31 December 2012.

KEY BUSINESS SEGMENT HIGHLIGHTS

Corporate and Investment Banking
– During 9M 2013 the Group managed to effectively grow its corporate loan book, increasing its market share in corporate loans to 16.0% as of 30 September 2013 from 14.7% as of 31 December 2012.

– Global Transaction Banking (GTB) continued streamlining its sales process and increasing coverage of the mid-sized client segment, with a particular focus on the Russian regions. In 3Q 2013, the GTB team sold customised cash management solutions to 75 large groups of companies (over 600 legal entities). On 1 November 2013, as part of the integration of TransCreditBank (TCB) into the Group, the transaction banking team successfully completed migration of more than 800 of TCB’s large and mid-sized clients to VTB Bank.

– VTB Capital continues to be the #1 investment banking franchise in Russia. For 9M 2013, VTB Capital's debt capital markets (DCM) team took the top spot in the Dealogic ranking for Central and Eastern Europe, with 85 transactions worth US\\$ 14.1 billion and a 10.6% market share. VTB Capital is also ranked #1 in Dealogic's Russia domestic DCM bookrunner ranking with 61 transactions worth US\\$ 9.2 billion (market share: 29.1%).

– VTB Capital held the top place in the equity capital markets in Russia and CIS, having arranged five transactions for a total of US\\$ 1.9 billion and taking 29.9% market share during 9M 2013. VTB Capital is also ranked first place in Dealogic's rankings of M&A consultants in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), Russia and CIS. In 9M 2013, VTB Capital had 13 transactions in CEE with a volume of US\\$ 16.8 billion. In Russia, VTB Capital advised on 11 transactions worth US\\$ 14.5 billion with a market share of 26.7%.

– In 4Q 2013, VTB Capital’s private equity business completed several successful exits, including the sale of White Gardens, a Class A office center in Moscow, to Millhouse LLC, as well as the sale of VTB Capital’s stake in Luxoft, a leading provider of software development services, in a secondary public offering on the NYSE.

Retail Banking

– In line with its retail strategy VTB Group continued to grow its retail loan portfolio, and increased its market share in retail lending to 13.7% as of 30 September 2013 from 13.3% as of 31 December 2012.

– During 3Q 2013 the Group saw strong growth both in secured lending products including mortgages, as well as in unsecured cash and credit card loans. The composition of the Group’s retail book remained largely unchanged during the quarter, with the share of mortgage loans standing at 34.1% of total retail loans as of 30 September 2013 (vs. 34.4% at 30 June 2013 and 34.9% at 31 December 2012) and the share of cash and credit card loans at 56.8% of total retail loans (vs. 56.4% at 30 June 2013 and 55.7% at 31 December 2012).

– In response to Russia’s slowing economic growth and trends in the domestic consumer lending market, VTB24, the Group’s core retail bank, tightened its lending policies and focused on its cross-sale and payroll client base, while decreasing the share of walk-in customers in its cash and credit card loan books. At the same time, the Group has further enhanced its debt collection function, which is expected to help protect asset quality going forward.

– The growth of the Group's retail deposits was helped by the continued strong inflow of funds from VTB24 private banking customers. Deposits from VTB24's VIP clients increased by 51.9% in 9M 2013 to RUB 325.3 billion, representing 19.5% of the Group's retail deposits as of 30 September 2013.

– On 1 November 2013, the Group successfully completed the merger of TransCreditBank ("TCB") with VTB24, bringing around 1.8 million new retail clients to VTB24 and adding 259 new branches to VTB24’s retail network.

– The total number of the Group's retail offices in Russia (operating under the brands of VTB24, Bank of Moscow, TCB and Leto Bank) was 1,535 as of 30 September 2013. The combined number of the Group's ATMs was around 11,500 at the end of 9M 2013.