OREANDA-NEWS.  January 31, 2014. Sviaz-Bank (Vnesheconombank Group) has totaled up the preliminary results of its financial performance (leaving out the events occurring after the reporting date) in 2013.

According to the management accounting balance, as of January 1, 2014 the Bank had 354.6 billion rubles in net assets, an increase of 30.5% from the start of 2013, its equity (capital) showing a 1.7% growth to 41.2 billion rubles.

The Bank earned a net operating profit of 10.3 billion rubles in 2013, 22% above the figure for 2012. Its interest earned in 2013 rose by 17.0% and interest it paid increased by 16.1%, yielding a net profit of 1.43 billion rubles last year.

The Bank’s transactions with individual customers kept developing at the highest rates of all. It accepted 31.7% more funds on deposit from individuals from the year beginning to 27.3 billion rubles. The share of time deposits rose from 78% to 85%.

Beginning on January 1, 2013, the Bank’s portfolio of loans issued to individuals rose by 60%, or by 18.9 billion rubles, to 48.5 billion rubles, showing an incremental growth of 95% from interest earned on the loan portfolio in 2012. The share of loans made to members of the public rose by 2.8% from 18.6% to 21.4% of the total amount of loans issued to customers, and their share of interest earned on loans to customers went up by 10.2%, from 17.6% to 27.7%. A majority of loan transactions with individuals are conducted in low-risk home loans, with the share of mortgages amounting to some 70% of the total portfolio of retail loans.

In 2013, Sviaz-Bank lowered the interest rates it charges under mortgage programs for the purchase of housing property on the primary and secondary markets. In the first quarter of the year, the Bank started issuing mortgages to armed forces servicemen for the purchase of apartments in new housing construction projects, and in the second quarter, it resumed making big loans against the pledge of residential and commercial real property. These moves enabled the Bank to win a place among the five leading banks for the total amount of mortgages issued over six months of 2013 (as reported by the RBC.Rating Agency).

The Bank went on conducting business with its principal corporate customers and engage new ones in cooperation. As a result, the balances in its corporate customers’ accounts and deposits placed with the Bank rose by over 50%, reaching 216 billion rubles, 57% or 78 billion rubles more than they were on January 1, 2013.

Throughout 2013, Sviaz-Bank increased its portfolio of loans to corporate customers by 4%, or by 5.2 billion rubles, to 133 billion rubles. By a longstanding tradition, the Bank’s major borrowers are in communications, electric power generation, and manufacturing, which account for the largest share of the corporate loan portfolio.

In 2013, Sviaz-Bank placed 13th in the size of the managing quota in the total rankings of bond issue managing underwriters. Sviaz-Bank’s managing quota amounted to 29.9 billion rubles.

The Bank’s principal objectives in 2014 are developing all areas of banking, launching a line of high-margin products, diversifying its loan and deposit portfolios, introducing new technologies, increasing the share of transactions performed through remote banking channels, and expanding its network of branches.