MOSCOW, Jan 17 Reuters Russia39;s largest lender Sberbank on Friday reported record annual profits of 1.56 trillion roubles 15.22 billionfor 2024, helped by strong growth in corporate borrowing and high interest rates, which ended the year at 21.

Sberbank made a 1.5 trillion rouble profit in 2023, a more than fivefold increase on the previous year.

According to Russian accounting standards, Sberbank39;s profits increased by 4.6 year on year in 2024 and its return on equity stood at 23.4.

The central bank39;s tight monetary policy, while helping banks in terms of the interest level they can charge, has led to a slowdown in lending.

In December, under pressure from the Bank of Russia39;s tight monetary policy and banking sector regulations, for the first time since 2022, there was a decrease in the retail and corporate portfolios in real terms, by 0.1, CEO German Gref said in a statement.

1 102.50 roubles

Reporting by Elena Fabrichnaya in Moscow and Alexander Marrow in London; editing by Christian Schmollinger and Jason Neely

Source Reuters