Russia's largest state-owned bank to open first branch in China

Sberbank — Russia's largest state-owned bank — has the only foreign branch in India. In early November it was reported that Sberbank was going to open a branch in China. According to Alexander Vedyakhin, deputy chairman of the board, all the necessary documents have been sent to China, RBC reports.

"We have been communicating with the People's Bank of China a lot lately. We have sent a massive package of documents there, as the Chinese regulator is very meticulous about documents. I hope that by the end of 2023 we will be able to open a branch in China. It usually takes 1.5-2 years, but we hope that by the end of 2023 we will already have a branch in this country,” Alexander Vedyakhin said.

• Sberbank opened a representative office in China in 2010;
• A representative office of Sberbank appeared in Germany in 2009;
• Sberbank has only one branch abroad — in New Delhi, India.

After the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine, Sberbank came under sanctions from Western states: the United States and Great Britain froze the bank's assets and banned citizens from doing business with it, whereas the EU disconnected Sberbank from the SWIFT interbank data exchange system.

Sberbank representatives later said that sanctions would affect the current situation in international settlements. In early June, the bank stopped making yuan settlements. Frank Media website then said that Sberbank suspended yuan settlements due to the policy of a correspondent bank. Ten days later, the bank resumed settlements in the Chinese currency.