Additional opportunities: How the partnership financing segment is developing at Sberbank Sberbank Senior Vice President Ganeev: partnership principles are the basis of business relations 10.15.2024, 16:28

— Oleg Vladimirovich, Russia Islamic Economic Forum, which will be organized by Sber for the sixth time, will start its work tomorrow. What topics will be prominent this year?

— In fact, the forum has become traditional for us. We did this in Chechnya, Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, Dagestan and finally in Moscow. This allows you to gather the widest possible audience. Guest registrations were completed within a few hours; Among the more than 400 participants were businessmen, journalists, representatives of the banking sector, clergy and government institutions. We will discuss many topical issues: the development vector of the 417-FZ experiment, attracting investments from Islamic countries to Russia, the ecosystem of halal products. And of course, as the leader in the partnership finance industry, we will tell you about our results in this segment.

— The state pays much attention to the development of partnership financing: on September 1 last year, the Bank of Russia experiment began, in which Sber took an active part. What important decisions were taken during the year within the framework of 417-FZ?

— The adopted legislation served to complement and expand the business model that the bank has been gradually implementing since 2016, providing additional opportunities in terms of financing instruments and new types of transactions. Moreover, the adoption of the document officially formed the basis for the formation of a new industry.

However, some problems that require solutions still continue. We continue to conduct active discussions with the Bank of Russia and government bodies regarding regulatory initiatives, especially regarding tax legislation. At the same time, we consider it necessary to work on market conditions, increase competition, attract new participants and increase the pace of activity.

— Have you studied the target audience of affiliate finance customers? What are the consumption habits of financial services?

— The majority of our target audience is concentrated in the North Caucasus, Tatarstan, Bashkortostan and the major cities of the country. The research conducted helped us identify the main consumption patterns of banking services and financial behavior depending on the region of residence. According to the survey, some respondents try not to spend all their money and save it for short-term needs, which is especially typical for Tatarstan. In Moscow, they are much more likely to postpone for a long time.

We also observe a high level of reliance on various banking services in Tatarstan; Residents of the Caucasus, on the other hand, refuse to use banking services for ethical reasons more often than other regions.

Based on these results, we are also implementing our projects to improve financial literacy in society. Our model is based on the demand for social responsibility: establishing business relationships between the bank and the customer based on the principles of partnership and equal distribution of risks. This approach is based on the current needs and challenges of the population; This makes it possible to configure new effective solutions and meets the overall people-centricity strategy.

— According to your observations, which co-financing products are most in demand?

— We currently have 16 integrated partner financing products and we see a certain demand for each of them. Moreover, the featured products vary by region. For example, in Chechnya and Bashkiria we see a lot of applications for salary projects, and a product such as the Aman current account is popular in Tatarstan and Moscow.

At the same time, we see great interest from our customers in profitable financing products and services. We are actively working to structure such products in accordance with Islamic finance standards, taking into account Russian legislation.

— In partnership financing, compliance of banking products with Sharia standards and separate accounting organization play a special role. Can you tell us how this work is structured at Sberbank?

— In this area, we maintain active interaction with the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of the Russian Federation and the clergy of the pilot regions, and in this context we provide documentation packages for our products for analysis of compliance with standards. At the same time, an official fatwa has been issued by our Sharia advisory committee for each of our products and offices.

Adjusting the asset and liability separation also occurs under the control of the Shariah advisory committee: we have now established product and management accounting for each product and office.

At the same time, we continue discussions with the Central Bank of Russia and the Ministry of Finance on the possibility of establishing separate accounting and developing a unified standardization. This is an important priority when we talk about the formation of a new industry in the country.