Last Saturday, Prime Minister Vladimir Putin met with Sberbank CEO German Gref and asked him about the largest national bank's loan-issue terms.
"Your bank probably issues most mortgages," Putin said. "It is our common desire and goal to see the lowest possible mortgage rates that would be affordable for most Russian citizens."
Despite having this common goal, the Central Bank has twice raised the refinancing rate, denoting the cost of loans for commercial banks this year. Consequently, Gref recently predicted higher loan rates.
Sberbank issued 60% of the mortgages nationwide during the crisis, Gref said. The share fell to 50% in 2010 because commercial banks started recovering from the crisis. Speaking of loan rates, Gref added that Sberbank was trying to maintain sufficiently low rates for the most reliable borrowers.
"We have launched a new product stipulating 8% rates for an eight-year period if a first instalment of 50% is made," Gref said. "This new loan is the cheapest mortgage in our entire history."
Nevertheless, Sberbank primarily caters to pensioners as opposed to mortgage borrowers because most senior citizens receive their pensions at its offices.
"The Pension Fund and Sberbank have set up a joint database," he said. "We now issue plastic cards to pensioners free of charge and train them how to use ATMs and electronic payment terminals. Moreover, we charge no commission on the cash they receive if someone doesn't want to use his or her card. This considerably reduces the load on our offices and shortens pension payment deadlines. We hope to introduce such services for most pensioners by the end of the year."
He stressed that pensioners will obtain such services absolutely free of charge, and that Sberbank will cover all the expenses. Pensioners refusing to use plastic cards will continue to go through bank tellers like they did before.
Nigina Beroyeva and Yevgeny Belyakov
