OREANDA-NEWS  Sberbank plans to work in new regions of Russia, including opening branches there, the head of the bank, German Gref, told RIA Novosti. "We are already there," he replied when asked if Sberbank plans to expand into new regions.

Answering the question whether branches will open there, he said: "They will, yes." And he added that "in part, there is, in part, they will appear."

In winter, Russian President Vladimir Putin appealed to major financial institutions to enter new regions. To date, Promsvyazbank (PSB) is the only systemically significant bank operating in the DPR, LPR, Zaporizhia and Kherson regions.

In March 2022, the head of state called on big businesses and banks to start working in Crimea without fear of foreign sanctions. PSB was also the first of the largest banks to enter the Crimean market. Sberbank started operating on the peninsula at the beginning of last year. At the end of February, it became known that Tinkoff would begin delivering debit and credit cards to Crimea. At the same time, the key bank in the region is RNKB, which joined the VTB group in the spring of 2023.