OREANDA-NEWS. June 09, 2014. Herman Gref, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of the Board of Sberbank of Russia spoke at the annual general meeting of Sberbank shareholders.

“The 362 bn rubles IFRS net income earned by us in 2013 led the Sberbank Group to tenth place in the world, in terms of net profit, - said Herman Gref. - we also kept our promises laid out by the bank's dividend policy”.

Herman Gref highlighted the bank’s focus on the customer as the main Sberbank achievement in the past five years: “Customers are the most important people for any business. They are the ones to pay salaries to all of us - from an office service specialist to the members of the Board. They also pay dividends to the shareholders. Focus on the customers’ needs and demands forms the basis of our success. Over the years we’ve become much closer to the level of world’s leading banks, and thus laid the foundation for further development”.

“The first and foremost focus of our strategy is for us to be with a client for a life, - underlined the head of Sberbank. – the further development of our relationships with customers is a key priority.” We want to build very deep and trusting connections with customers so as to be with them at all stages of their lives”.