OREANDA-NEWS. September 07, 2012. Astrakhan opens the milestone 1,500 new-format office of Sberbank. The opening ceremony was attended by Konstantin Markelov, the Chairman of the Government of Astrakhan region, representatives of the Oblast administration and the Bank's management, reported the press-centre of Sberbank. 

The official ceremony was opened by Dmitri Kurdyukov, Chairman of Sberbank Povolzhie. "Reformatting the branch network is one of Sberbank's major projects that we are implementing with only the best global banking practices. We not only change the design of premises and install new equipment – the business itself is reformatted, – Dmitri Kurdyukov emphasized. – Our main goal is to make client services at the Bank as comfortable as possible, offer positive emotions and do anything we can for you to enjoy coming to our offices and want to come back!"

Sberbank opened 21 new-format offices in 2010 and as many as 870 in 2011. The program of reformatting Sberbank's branches will be completed by late 2015.

In 2011 Sberbank created about nine hundred round-the-clock self-service areas throughout the country and changed work hours at branches with over 8,000 branches operating without a lunch break and over 9,000 branches operating on weekends.

Organization of Sberbank's new offices is based on a number of principles, including the principle of differentiation of sales and services (transactions). To this end, two major areas of client services offered by the Bank's staff are set up at units. Cash management staff performs relatively simple and quick transactions in the transactions area. In the consultation and sales area, relevant relatively complex services are provided by sales managers and client managers.

New-format offices put significant emphasis on client self-service. An extended round-the-clock self-service area is set up at entry to the unit, computers with Internet access are installed inside the client section for clients to independently get necessary information about Sberbank's services and make transactions with Sberbank Online".

Igor Artamonov, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Sberbank of Russia, emphasized that "development and implementation of new unit formats is a key element of Sberbank's transformation into a global grade service company".