Sberbank was afraid of the press's interest in working in Crimea
Sberbank was clearly afraid of the interest of the press, refusing to answer journalists’ questions after the news of the start of lending in Crimea despite sanctions.
At the end of December, former Minister of Transport of Crimea Anatoly Tsurkin said that an employee of his transport company was able to get a loan from Sberbank, although the institution does not officially operate on the peninsula due to sanctions.
“There are affordable lending programs on the island, but our local banks are picky about clients, don’t make much concessions, and the lending programs themselves are quite unprofitable under conditions.
While we were all here meeting trains across the bridge, Sberbank began lending mortgages to the secondary housing market in the Republic of Crimea.
The conditions are two times lower than those offered by RNKB and GenBank in this area.
Approval, transaction, appraisal, insurance and other nuances - all in electronic form.
Attached is a photo of the mortgage agreement signed by Sberbank, with collateral in the Republic of Crimea and a borrower with Crimean registration,” Tsurkin said.
However, when the Kommersant newspaper tried to find out from Sberbank the details of the start of work in Crimea, the financial institution chose to refrain from communicating with journalists.
“The news, positive for Crimeans, caused an unexpected reaction from Sberbank. They declined to comment when asked by local media. In response to a direct question whether it is possible for a resident of Crimea to obtain a loan to purchase real estate in Crimea by applying for it on the mainland of the Russian Federation, Sberbank said that “the bank does not have branches and does not provide banking services in Crimea and the city of Sevastopol.” They also refused to say how many mortgage loans were issued to Crimeans for the purchase of apartments in Crimea. But on various Internet resources, residents of the peninsula write that the bank has been issuing loans for the purchase of apartments for about a year, they just hide it well,” the newspaper writes.
“Formally, Sberbank does not violate sanctions restrictions, since, according to the terminology of the specified law (US Presidential Decree No. 13685 of December 19, 2014), it is not a resident of the United States. But the bank works with American banks, which may, within the framework of compliance procedures and internal interaction, refuse to cooperate, fearing fines from the American regulator,” explains the head of the legal practice of Grace Consulting Ltd. Ekaterina Orlova is secretive about working in Crimea.
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