Russia’s top four banks remain unchanged, with state ownership continuing to dominate the financial sector. Sberbank’s $5.2bn secondary public offering in September 2012 reduced the state’s holding to only just above 50%, and the bank’s management is aiming for international best practice.
Below the top four, consolidation is taking hold. Bank of Moscow, 14th in last year’s rankings, disappears this year after its absorption into VTB in 2011 – although the brand remains in use (see Top 500 Brands ranking). Large regional player Bank of Khanty-Mansiysk, ranking 24th last year, has also been removed from the ranking after its purchase by Nomos Bank. And Rosbank, into which French owner Société Générale consolidated several smaller Russian subsidiaries last year, has now overtaken Alfa Bank to be the largest privately owned bank in Russia in tier 1 capital terms.
