State Sberbank in September closed 527 offices at once, which was a record since May 2006. In total, since the beginning of the year, the largest bank in the country has closed 868 branches, now there are 12.4 thousand, Kommersant writes , citing Sberbank data.
The representative of the bank assured that the reduction of bank branches will not affect the work in any way, since in such decisions the management relies "on the needs, interests and convenience of customers." He also noted that the reduction of offices will not affect the quality of work, and the coverage of territories with services will not be affected.
Experts and sources of the publication in the banking market note that the reduction of branches is a purely economic story for a bank that has suffered from foreign sanctions and economic problems within Russia. Moreover, Sberbank has been conducting such optimization programs for several years: last year the bank managed to save about 8.9 billion rubles.
“Given the current situation, banks are starting to implement optimization measures more actively,” notes Irina Odinaeva, Managing Director of Axenix.
According to her, the cost of one branch per month is 1.5-2 million rubles, so in 2022 Sberbank can save about 16-21 billion rubles. The development of digital services also has a negative impact on branches: sales of services in the online format exceeded 50% in the sales structure, so a further reduction in offices is inevitable, notes Odinaeva.
However, there are counterexamples: the state-owned Promsvyazbank (PSB), which acts as the backbone of the military industry, on the contrary, has increased its own network of branches. In September, their number increased by 41 offices, and since the beginning of the year – by 60. True, the increase was due to new offices in the occupied territories of Ukraine – Donetsk, Lugansk, Kherson and Zaporozhye regions. The total number of PSB branches exceeded 120 units.