Alfa-Bank and Sber have conducted two parallel digital financial asset transactions, as detailed on the banks’ public postings. Each bank plans to issue short-term debt in a DFA format on its own platform, with a placement window spanning December 4 to December 11 and a stated yield of 15% per annum. Each issue is sized at 1 billion rubles.
In both deals, the platform identifies Alfa-Bank as the issuer on both the Sber and Alfa-Bank platforms, referred to as the A-Token. Investors on the Sber digital asset platform include Sber and other corporate entities. This cross-platform structure underscores collaborative access for large corporate financing via digital instruments.
Officials emphasized that the two institutions connected their platforms to broaden financing options for mutual corporate clients and to facilitate syndicated loans, including in secondary markets. The arrangement is described as a milestone in the end-to-end technological and methodological collaboration between the banks. Vladimir Voeikov, who heads large and medium-sized business at Alfa-Bank, highlighted the significance of this cooperation for corporate clients and noted the ongoing expansion of the DFA market as demand grows for flexible capital-raising tools. In his view, the interbank partnership will play a pivotal role in advancing this market-wide initiative.
Alexander Vedyakhin, First Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors at Sberbank, remarked that this joint issue marks the first occasion in the Russian financial market where two major banks issue digital financial assets carrying short-term debt obligations. He added that the initiative represents new experience for both lenders and underscores the potential benefits of DFA transactions. He pointed to the synergy between Moscow’s leading banks as a driver for broader adoption of digital financial services in Russia. The ability to tailor DFA parameters for each issuance was noted as a key advantage, enabling issuers to minimize costs associated with issuing and circulating debt in the secondary market. This is seen as a practical step toward more efficient debt management and liquidity optimization by corporate issuers.
Observers predict that this approach could unlock new opportunities in Russia’s short-term public debt market. The expectation is that future DFAs will diversify the instrument toolkit available to Russian companies for liquidity management and fund placement. Both banks indicated that the collaboration would extend beyond the current deals, potentially increasing the volume and variety of digital instruments offered to corporate clients. Sber’s executives also indicated plans to participate as an investor in DFA issuances within Alfa-Bank’s information system, signaling a broader interbank liquidity channel and continued cross-platform operations in the DFA space. These moves collectively illustrate a growing trend toward digitized debt markets and the strategic role of large banks in shaping issuance dynamics. [Source attribution: Alfa-Bank and Sberbank public statements and industry briefings.]