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Sberbank CEO says will step down if bank’s strategy pivots

Gref is confident though that the strategy of the credit organization will remain unchanged after the main shareholder is changed
Sberbank CEO Herman Gref Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS
Sberbank CEO Herman Gref
© Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS

DAVOS /Switzerland/, January 23. /TASS/. Herman Gref will step down as Chief Executive Officer of Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank if the bank’s cornerstone of development pivots, he told reporters on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos on Thursday. He is confident though that the strategy of the credit organization will remain unchanged after the main shareholder is changed (Bank of Russia holds 50% plus one share in Sberbank), Gref added.

"I should hope not. I am thoroughly convinced that the strategy is correct, which is proved by practice. I brought a concept when I started (as CEO). If the concept pivots I see no place for me in the company," he said.

According to Sberbank’s strategy, the lender positions itself as an ecosystem that integrates its partners providing both financial and non-financial services, on the basis of a single platform. Sberbank’s ecosystem includes over 30 companies representing the main sectors such as e-commerce (Yandex.Market), medicine (DocDoc), telecommunications (Sberbank Telecom), cloud technology (SberCloud), communications (Dialog), identification (VisionLabs), life style (Foodplex), services for business processes optimization (Evotor, Sber Solutions), etc.