OREANDA-NEWS. August 26, 2013. In the first half of 2013 the volume of new trade finance operations of Sberbank of Russia increased by 60% compared to the same period last year and amounted to USD 5 billion, with the existing trade finance transactions portfolio exceeding USD 12.5 billion (as of July 1, 2012 the portfolio totaled USD  8.2 billion).

This was announced at a press conference by Andrey Ivanov, Global Head of trade finance and correspondent banking, Sberbank of Russia. 

The steady growth over the past few years once again confirms the great potential for trade finance development in light of the international expansion of the Sberbank Group. The total volume of the Group’s trade finance transactions amounted to USD 8.7 billion (excluding guarantees for corporate clients) while the portfolio exceeded USD 16.8 billion.

Sberbank’s trade finance business in addition to the impressive quantitative growth showed substantial qualitative changes. In particular, during the first half year Sberbank signed agreements with its new partners – banks of Singapore and the Middle East for a total of USD 1.1 billion, thus expanding the geography of its partner base. Its cooperation with Chinese banks has been raised to a new level; in particular, Sberbank attracted bilateral interbank loans from major Chinese banks in the amount of more than USD 200 million. The Sberbank Group realized complex structured intragroup trade finance transactions, including those with export credit agencies’ coverage. Sberbank entered a brand-new stage of cooperation with international financial institutions signing an agreement with the European Investment Bank (EIB) on financing loans for small and medium-sized businesses in the amount of EUR 300 million for a period of 10 years and receiving another tranche in the amount of USD 100 million from Austria's export credit agency, Oesterreichische Kontrollbank AG, for the purpose of refinancing loans to Sberbank’s clients trading with Austrian companies.

Andrey Ivanov also noted a significant growth in servicing trade transactions within the territory of the Russian Federation. The volume of settlements using domestic letters of credit increased compared to the previous year by 120% to exceed the equivalent of USD 1 billion. "A growing interest of Russian companies in letters of credit along with a sustained increase in transaction volumes serves as evidence of a steady trend of switching domestic trade to civilized forms of settlements. Sberbank takes the lead in the process – its trade finance and correspondent banking experts are actively involved in making amendments to the Russian legislation in order to bring the practice of using letters of credit within the domestic market to the best world standards. Due to these factors a new efficient payment instrument – transferable letter of credit – has appeared on the Russian market. Sberbank is one of the banks that pioneered operations under such letters of credit”, – stated the speaker.

Andrey Ivanov added that one of the indicators used to assess the activity of banks in documentary transactions and settlements (including international ones) is the amount of financial messages sent through the SWIFT system. The share of such messages sent by Sberbank on behalf of its clients in the first half-year amounted to more than one-third of the Russian market and continues to grow steadily in both relative and absolute value.