By Elena Fabrichnaya and Alexander Marrow
MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russia's top lender Sberbank will invest more than 450 billion roubles ($4.84 billion) in IT in the coming three years, its financial chief said on Wednesday, as the bank continues its push to develop domestic technology solutions.
CEO German Gref, placed artificial intelligence and digital transformation at the heart of the bank's new three-year strategy, as Russia adjusts to life without Western technology after sanctions over the conflict in Ukraine.
Taras Skvortsov, the bank's head of finance, said profits generated from artificial intelligence (AI) in 2024-26 would amount to about 800 billion roubles and that overall IT investments would increase by 1-1/2 times in that period.
Sberbank, majority owned by the Russian state, is on course for record earnings this year, bouncing back from an almost 80% drop in profits as Western sanctions rattled Russia's financial sector in 2022.
"On the three-year horizon we will ensure a high return on our capital, which should be above 22%," Gref said. "And we should ensure a high level of dividend payments, at 50% of our net profit."
Sberbank's return on equity (ROE) this year has been around 26-27%. The bank did not pay a 2021 dividend last year on the recommendation of the central bank and government, but announced a record 565 billion rouble ($6.09 billion) payout in March.
'DIGITAL DIVIDE'
With 108 million retail clients and 3.2 million corporates, Sberbank tends to grow in line with Russia's economy, which Skvortsov said the bank sees growing 1.2% annually in the coming years, with inflation reaching the central bank's 4% target in 2025 and interest rates dropping to 8% next year, from 15% now.
Skvortsov said the bank's net interest margin was seen averaging more than 5.7% in 2024, in spite of lower rates.
The bank's shares fell 3.2% as of 1030 GMT to a one-month low, underperforming the wider market.
Gref, who has overseen investments into AI, cloud services, big data and smart devices since taking the helm at Sberbank in 2007, had been pushing the bank's technological credentials long before Moscow sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022.
"IT investments in developing domestic solutions in 2024 will grow four times in 2024, compared to 2023," said CTO Andrei Belevtsev. "Sber invests a third of its budget in IT annually."
Aside from generating profits, Gref said the bank's priority in the future was to use artificial intelligence to move most operational decisions online.
"We are creating a smart assistant for all areas of activity," Gref said. "(We will) close the digital divide in the country."
($1 = 93.0450 roubles)