On Tuesday the director of Sberbank in Slovakia Rastislav Murgaš talked publicly for the first time about the response of the bank’s clients to the sanctions which the European Union has introduced against its Russian owner. The sanctions do not apply to the Slovak bank but this could have disconcerted its customers.
Murgaš says that customers have called and asked about the sanctions, but nothing significant has happened. The bank has about a four percent share on the Slovak banking market. “Shareholders will not be happy if we stayed on the 7th to 9th position on our market. Within five years we want to have a market share of 8 percent. The current situation should not limit our plans”, says Murgaš. He explains that last year they reported 37 percent growth on the market with common clients, i.e. on the retail market, and they want to grow further.
