By RIA Novosti
Singapore : Russia’s state-run retail savings bank Sberbank plans to increase the number of independent directors on its supervisory board from three to four, the bank’s CEO said on Tuesday.
“We are consciously moving to reduce the share of managers on the supervisory board. We’ll propose to shareholders to increase the number of independent directors. This is another step toward the company’s transparency and policy openness,” German Gref told the third Russian-Singapore business forum organized by the Troika Dialog brokerage.
The candidacy of a fourth independent director could be examined at a meeting of the bank’s supervisory board on April 9 and eventually approved by an annual meeting of the bank’s shareholders, Gref said.
Sberbank, which holds more than half of Russian household deposits, increased its net profit calculated to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) by almost 50% year-on-year in 2007 to an estimated $4.9 billion, the former economics minister said.
He also said that international consulting firms McKinsey and Bain had become Sberbank’s strategic consultants.
“We are at the stage of signing an agreement with consultants. Work will be carried out during six months to develop the bank’s strategy,” the chief executive said.
Gref also said Sberbank intends to enter the markets of about two dozen countries in the next five years.
“Now is an opportune time for us,” he said, adding that the bank intends to use the slowdown on the global financial markets to expand its activities abroad and purchase devaluated assets.
At the same time, Sberbank intends to expand its presence in Russian regions, including economically undeveloped areas, and open 250 new offices, Gref said.