Sberbank might invest about RUB 200bn (USD 3.2bn) a year in non-financial assets in its ecosystem, according to the estimate of potential investment amount by Morgan Stanley in the review “Can Sberbank transform Russian internet sector?”

“We believe that Sberbank’s investment can transform Russian internet sector as it is gradually adopts a more hydride format (operating both online and offline). However, Sberbank’s resources do not guarantee success: for instance, partnerships between companies working in different sectors with different cultures might become complicated,” the analysts write in the review.

Sberbank conducts a policy that makes its partners cooperate and compete at the same time, but it might become less effective when internet companies are growing.


RBC writes that the development of ecosystem of non-financial assets by Sberbank has become another reason for dispute between the bank and its majority stakeholder, Central Bank of Russia.

In particular, Central Bank said that development of ecosystems could create non-competitive market advantages for the banks, inkling the access to personal data of the citizens.

Sberbank CEO Herman Gref has warned that if the state moves against banking ecosystems, IT corporations will enter into the financial market more often.

“If the Central Bank over-regulates us, in a certain amount of years it will have to regulate high-tech giants in banking,” he said.

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