1. Introduction
These consolidated financial statements of Sberbank of Russia (Sberbank, “the Bank”) and its subsidiaries (together referred to as “the Group” or “Sberbank Group”) have been prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards for the year ended 31 December 2012. Principal subsidiaries include foreign commercial banks and other Russian and foreign companies controlled by the Group. A list of principal subsidiaries included in these consolidated financial statements is disclosed in Note 39.
The Bank is an open joint-stock commercial bank established in 1841 and operating in various forms since then. The Bank was incorporated and is domiciled in the Russian Federation. The Bank’s principal shareholder, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation (“Bank of Russia”), owns 52.3% of ordinary shares or 50.0% plus 1 voting share of the issued and outstanding shares as at 31 December 2012 (31 December 2011: 60.3% of ordinary shares or 57.6% of the issued and outstanding shares). The decrease by 7.6% was due to the sale of shares and global depository receipts by the Bank of Russia to institutional investors in September 2012.
As at 31 December 2012 the Supervisory Board of the Bank is headed by the Chairman of the Bank of Russia. Two First Deputy Chairmen of the Bank of Russia are Deputy Chairmen of the Supervisory Board. The Supervisory Board also includes independent directors.
The Bank operates under a full banking license issued by the Bank of Russia since 1991. In addition, the Bank holds licenses required for trading and holding securities and engaging in other securities-related activities, including acting as a broker, a dealer, a custodian, and provision of asset management services. The Bank is regulated and supervised by the Bank of Russia and by the Federal Service for Financial Markets. The Group’s foreign banks operate under the banking regulatory regimes of their respective countries.
The Group’s principal business activity is corporate and retail banking. This includes, but is not limited to, deposit taking and commercial lending in freely convertible currencies, local currencies of countries where the subsidiary banks operate and in Russian roubles, support of clients’ export/import transactions, foreign exchange, securities trading, and trading in derivative financial instruments. The Group’s operations are conducted in both Russian and international markets. As at 31 December 2012 the Group conducts its business in Russia through Sberbank with its network of 17 (31 December 2011: 17) regional head offices, 193 (31 December 2011: 505) branches and 18,377 (31 December 2011: 18,727) sub-branches, and through principal subsidiaries located in Russia such as CJSC Sberbank Leasing, LLC Sberbank Capital, companies of Troika Dialog Group Ltd. and BNP Paribas Vostok LLC. The Group carries out banking operations in Turkey, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Austria, Switzerland and other countries of Central and Eastern Europe and also conducts operations through a branch office in India, representative offices in Germany and China and companies of Troika Dialog Group Ltd. located in the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Cyprus and certain other jurisdictions.
The actual headcount of the Group’s employees as at 31 December 2012 was 286,019 (31 December 2011: 266,187).
Registered address and place of business
The Bank’s registered address is: Vavilova Str., 19, Moscow, Russian Federation.
Presentation currency
These consolidated financial statements are presented in billions of Russian Roubles (“billions RUB”) unless otherwise stated.