Sberbank discloses details of withdrawal of frozen assets from balance sheet

The reorganization of Sberbank with the transfer of part of the frozen assets may take place in the first half of 2026. However, the size of these assets should not exceed the bank's weekly profit, its CFO Taras Skvortsov told RBC

A special reorganization of Sberbank with the allocation of part of the assets and liabilities blocked due to sanctions to a separate legal entity may take place in the first half of 2026, the financial DIRECTOR of the credit institution Taras Skvortsov told RBK at the Eastern Economic Forum. According to him, the amount of the transaction will be less than the amount of Sberbank's net profit for the week and will not affect the bank's financial results.

" The law itself allows for the spin-off to be made by the end of 2026, although the procedure is lengthy: approval by the Central Bank takes time, and after that, a decision by the shareholders' meeting on the reorganization is still needed. According to my estimates, it will take about six months. If we submit for approval closer to the end of the year, then, according to optimistic forecasts, the reorganization may take place in the first half of the year. The amount of assets that can be transferred will be significantly less than our usual monthly profit, even less than weekly profit. Therefore, we should not expect any huge one-off effects that will affect our financial results," the top manager noted. According to RAS reporting, since the beginning of 2025, Sberbank has earned an average of 34.7 billion rubles weekly.

In 2022, following large-scale Western sanctions, Russian banks faced the blocking of a significant volume of assets and liabilities, which required them to create reserves. After that, the authorities developed a mechanism allowing credit institutions to remove such problematic assets from their balance sheets.

00:00 Advertisement 00:00 00:00 / 02:03 You can skip the advertisement in More details

According to Federal Law 292-FZ, a bank can create a separate legal entity, transfer frozen assets to it, and at the same time liabilities in the form of obligations to foreign creditors. After that, all settlements on debts to non-resident clients will be executed only at the expense of the assets of the new company, i.e. blocked ones. The list of what can be "dumped" as a result of the reorganization must be agreed upon with the Central Bank.

The norm has been extended several times, and the regulator has also changed its approaches to what frozen assets banks can allocate. Sberbank planned to carry out a reorganization in 2024 , but was unable to do so due to the tightening of the Central Bank's requirements. It became known in July of this year that the process of preparing Sber for reorganization had resumed.

"We are currently continuing to form a list of assets and liabilities to be transferred. The potential portfolio has become very thin due to the Central Bank's restrictions on the allocation of certain assets. We have also already exchanged some assets under Presidential Decree No. 665," Skvortsov said. This decree provides for the transfer of payments intended for foreign holders of government Eurobonds to Russian individuals with assets frozen abroad; in turn, foreigners can demand proportionate funds from foreign depositories from blocked accounts of the Russian NSD, which has fallen under sanctions .

Skvortsov emphasized that Sberbank is considering removing from its balance sheet "the most problematic assets that are difficult to return without lifting sanctions." "We prefer to keep what is currently in progress so that we can settle it in the standard process," the top manager added.

Since 2022, Sovcombank, Moscow Credit Bank (MCB) and VTB have carried out a special reorganization to allocate blocked assets. Moreover, the latter, due to changes in the Central Bank's requirements in 2024, significantly reduced the transaction volume - from 180 billion to 98 billion rubles. After this, the regulator's approach was adjusted again, and VTB allowed a second reorganization for 80 billion rubles.