OREANDA-NEWS. July 04, 2014. The Sberbank CIB delegation led by Andrey Ivanov, Head of Trade Finance and Correspondence Relations Division at Sberbank CIB, took part in the 15th meeting of the Financial Cooperation Subcommittee, which took place on 25-26 June 2014 in Shanghai during the Russian-Chinese Commission’s meeting for the preparation of regular meetings of the heads of state from Russia and China.

During the event representatives from Russian and Chinese financial circles discussed interaction that aims to strengthen bilateral trade and economic ties, settlements in the national currencies of Russia and China, cooperation in the areas of payment services and insurance as well as other key areas of interbank cooperation. In addition, representatives from Sberbank of Russia held negotiations with the heads of delegations from Chinese partner banks: the Bank of China, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, China Construction Bank and Agricultural Bank of China.

Speaking at the meeting, Andrey Ivanov said that developing cooperation with leading Chinese banks is a priority for Sberbank of Russia’s international activities, which includes correspondence relations and trade finance. In particular, this year Sberbank of Russia’s settlements in Chinese yuan increased 20-fold compared with the same period last year and ruble settlements in boarder areas in the last four months alone amount to 80% of all settlements in 2013 combined.

In addition, since the beginning 2013 Sberbank’s relations with Chinese banks in financing foreign trade have improved considerably. Sberbank of Russia provided financing to Chinese financial organizations as part of a pilot project and cooperation between subsidiaries and affiliates is also developing. At the same time Andrey Ivanov noted that the current volume of trade finance operations does not reflect the extent of current Russian-Chinese trade cooperation and that trade finance operations has significant growth potential.

Following the Subcommittee’s meeting, Russian banks expressed interest in improving trade finance rates offered to Chinese banks. Financial organizations from both countries agreed to expand the list of available trade finance instruments and to settlements in the national currencies. Russian banks are also interested in expanding cooperation with Chinese banks to capital markets, precious metals operations and other areas. Moreover, both sides noted the important role of stock exchanges in increasing currency operations.