KAZAN, July 17. /TASS/. Sberbank, one of Russia’s biggest banks, supports the idea of establishing a new banking association, the bank’s CEO, Herman Gref, told journalists on Monday.

Earlier in the day, eight Russia’s biggest banks, namely VTB, VTB 24, Sberbank, Rosselkhozbank, Gazprombank, Alfa Bank, Bank Otkritie and B&NBank, announced their decision to withdraw from the Association of Russian Banks (ARB), citing the association’s inefficiency as a reason. They claim ARB is ignoring its member’s interests.

"We did not initiate that [withdrawal from ARB - TASS] but we said we are ready to support other banks seeking to set up another association that would be based on the principle alternativeness and where interests of the community would prevail over interests of individual leaders," Gref said.

According to Gref, ARB no longer meets the interests of the banking community. "We need an association, which in such a difficult period could have weight in the interests of the entire banking community and defend banks’ interests in relations with the regulator, authorities and in the interests of developing a concept of intra-bank cooperation," he stressed.