Russia’s Sberbank plans to open office in China in 2023

By Trend

Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, plans to launch a branch office in China by the end of 2023, Alexander Vedyakhin, the first deputy chairman of Sberbank's executive board, said on Monday, Trend reports citing TASS.

"I hope that by the end of 2023 we will be able to open a branch office in China. Usually it takes one and a half to two years, but we hope that by the end of 2023 we will already have an office in this country," Vedyakhin said.

He added that the bank is actively communicating with the Central Bank of China on the matter. The Chinese regulator is "very scrupulous" and requests a large number of documents, the senior executive said.

Earlier, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Alexey Moiseev said that the Chinese yuan and the UAE dirham may become main alternatives to the dollar and euro in Russia.

In early September, Russia's Sberbank said that the yuan may become the "number one currency" in trading on the Moscow Exchange (MOEX) in the near future. In 2021, the share of yuan in trading between Russia and its partners was 3%, but Russia's largest bank expects it to be 10-12% this year and 20% or more next year.