(This content was produced in Russia where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine)
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Alfa Bank made a record loss of 117.1 billion roubles ($1.44 billion) last year, a company report showed on Thursday, as sanctions on its financial system hit Russia’s big banks.
Russia’s central bank said two of 13 official “systemically important credit institutions” made losses in 2022.
These included state-owned VTB, which on Wednesday said it expects to bounce back with record profits in 2023 from a sanctions-induced $7.7 billion loss last year, with Alfa Bank’s report confirming that it was the other.
Both banks were placed under Western sanctions in response to Russia sending tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine.
Russian banks have rallied after a collective 90% profit drop last year, with lenders now jostling for business from the state, particularly a burgeoning defence budget, and the country’s big corporate accounts.
Alfa Bank had made a net profit of 136.6 billion roubles in 2021, a record year for Russian banking sector profits.
Provision costs for possible loan losses jumped about five times to 167.4 billion roubles, Alfa Bank’s report said.
However, net interest income rose to 211.7 billion roubles from 175.8 billion roubles in 2021 and Alfa Bank’s assets increased to 5.82 trillion roubles, from 5.62 trillion roubles.
Alfa Bank did not respond to a request for comment.
Sanctioned Russian businessmen Mikhail Fridman and Petr Aven are in talks over selling their stake in Alfa Bank to their longtime business partner and its co-founder Andrei Kosogov.
($1 = 81.1455 roubles)
(Reporting by Elena Fabrichnaya; Writing by Alexander Marrow; Editing by Alexander Smith)
