Gazprombank releases financial results for 2018 in accordance with IFRS, with net income at RUB 39.5 bn 25 Марта 2019 - «Газпромбанк»

Moscow, March, 25, 2019 - Gazprombank (Joint Stock Company) (hereinafter, Bank GPB (JSC) or the Bank) has published consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) for the year of 2018 and as at 31 December 2018.
“In 2018 the Bank’s profit grew by 17% year-on-year to RUB 39.5bn. This result comes together with the large-scale technological transformation of the retail business. The retail development strategy allowed the Bank to rank among leaders in terms of the dynamics of its mortgage and consumer lending portfolios,” Deputy Chairman of the Management Board, Mr. Alexander Sobol, said.
Bank GPB (JSC) key financial indicators for 2018/ as at 31 December 2018 [1]:
Net income totaled RUB 39.5 bn compared to RUB 33.8 bn in 2017;
ROE and ROA stood at 6.8% and 0.6%, respectively, compared to 6.2% and 0.6% in 2017;
Net interest margin comprised 2.8% compared to 3.1% in 2017;
Net commission income amounted to RUB 18.4 bn compared to RUB 15.7 bn in 2017;
Cost of Risk stood at 0.5% with due regard to the adjustment of loans accounted at fair value compared to 0.6% in 2017;
Cost-to-income ratio reached 57.5% compared to 49.5% in 2017.
Assets increased to RUB 6,532.1 bn against RUB 5,509.9 bn as at 1 January 2018;
The total loan portfolio [2] amounted to RUB 4,239.9 bn against RUB 3,745.8 bn as at 01 January 2018);
The share of non-performing loans (NPL) (overdue 90+ days and defaulted loans) in the total loan portfolio was down to 2.4% compared to 2.5% as at 01 January 2018;
The provisioning ratio amounted to 5.0% at year-end 2018 compared to 5.3% as at 01 January 2018;
Customer accounts comprised RUB 4,813.5 bn at year-end 2018 compared to RUB 3,915.4 bn year-on-year, while the loan-to-deposit ratio was 88.1% as at 31 December 2018 compared to 95.7% as at 01 January 2018;
Basel I total capital comprised RUB 676.4 bn as at 31 December 2018 compared to RUB 665.6 bn as at 01 January 2018, the total capital adequacy ratio stood at 12.4% as at the reporting date, the Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio was at 10.5%.
The key financial indicators are presented below:

RUB, bn

	30 December 2018	01 January 2018	% change
Assets	6,532.1	5,509.9	+18.6%
Shareholders’ equity	616.7	552.6	+11.6%
Cash and cash equivalents	1,049.3	649.0	+61.7%
Loans to corporate customers	3,733.0	3,356.7	+11.2%
Retail loans	506.9	389.1	+30.3%
Securities and investments in associates [3]	754.6	672.8	+12.2%
Corporate customer accounts	3,822.7	3,072.6	+24.4%
Retail customer accounts	990.8	842.9	+17.5%
Capital borrowings [4]	326.6	339.6	-3.8%
Subordinated debt	136.5	164.5	-17.0%
	2018	2017	Change
Net income	39.5	33.8	+16.9%
Comprehensive income	43.0	35.6	+20.9%

	31 December 2018 / 12 M 2018	01 January 2018	31 December 2017 / 12 M 2017*	% change
Total Capital Adequacy Ratio [5]	12.4%	12.6%		-0.2 p.p.
Tier 1 Capital Adequacy Ratio	10.5%	9.8%		+0.7 p.p.
Non-performing loans [6] (NPL) % of gross loans	2.4%	2.5%		-0.1 p.p.
Allowance for impairment to gross loans accounted at amortized cost	5.0%	5.3%		-0.3 p.p.
Loans-to-deposit ratio	88.1%	95.7%		-7.6 p.p.
ROE	6.8%		6.2%	+0.6 p.p.
ROA	0.6%		0.6%	-
Net Interest Margin [7]	2.8%		3.1%	-0.3 p.p.
Cost of risk [8]	0.5%		0.6%	-0.1 p.p.
Cost to income ratio [9]	57.5%		49.5%	+8.0 p.p.

* Without adjustments as per IFRS 9 and IFRS 15
Financial results
The Group successfully completed the year of 2018, with its net income recorded at RUB 39.5 bn and its comprehensive income at RUB 43.0 bn, including revaluation of non-trade investments and currency revaluations of the Group’s foreign investments. In 2017, the Group’s net income and its comprehensive income amounted to RUB 33.8 bn and RUB 35.6 bn, respectively. The Group’s ROE was up by 0.6 p.p. to 6.8% in 2018. ROA remained flat at 0.6% in 2018.
The Group’s operating income (before interest-bearing asset impairment provisions and profit/loss on loans accounted at fair value) reached RUB 171.0 bn in 2018 – up 7.5% against 159.1 bn in 2017.
The Group’s net interest income was up by 5.4% at RUB 138.7 bn in 2018 against 2017, with interest income up by 2.2% at RUB 373.5 bn against 2017 and interest expense up by 0.4% at RUB 234.8 bn. Higher interest income and expense mostly result from higher volumes of interest earning assets and raised finance. At the same time, the net interest margin in 2018 was down by 0.3 p.p. at 2.8% due to reduction in the rates of return and growth in highly liquid assets offering lower return.
The Group’s net commission income reached RUB 18.4 bn in 2018 – up by 17.5% against RUB 15.7 bn in 2017.
The Group’s recurring core banking income, including net interest income before interest earning asset impairment provisions and net commission income, was up by 6.7% at RUB 157.1 bn in 2018 compared to RUB 147.2 bn in 2017.
Non-banking segments recorded the operating loss of RUB 1.7 bn in 2018 against the profit of RUB 5.1 bn in 2017.
The recurring income was down 0.6 p.p. at 91.9% in the Group’s operating income in 2018 against 92.5% year-on-year.
Operating expenses reached RUB 98.3 bn in 2018 compared to RUB 78.8 bn in 2017. Higher expenses were driven by the continued implementation of the technological transformation strategy, including the launch of some digital projects for business development and its higher performance, and by the further development of the Group’s retail banking business.
The cost to income ratio was 57.5% – up by 8.0 p.p. in 2018 against 2017.
Assets quality
Loan loss provisions totalled RUB 6.8 bn in 2018 compared to RUB 26.5 bn for 2017, in particular 2Q – 4Q saw the creation of loan loss provisions totalling RUB 8.7 bn following RUB 1.2 bn recovery in 1Q 2018 due to the repayment of several major loans. The Group’s cost of risk was at 0.5% at year-end 2018, including profit / loss on loans and receivables accounted at fair value compared to 0.6% at year-end 2017. The loss on loans and receivables accounted at fair value reached RUB 16.9 bn in 2018, which is due to a change in both the borrowers’ creditworthiness and market parameters included in asset valuation models.
NPLs (non-performing loans) in the gross loan book accounted for 2.4% at year-end 2018 – 0.1 p.p. down compared to the indicator at the start of the year. The provisioning ratio (total loan loss allowance to the portfolio of loans accounted at amortized cost) was 5.0% as at 31 December 2018 compared to 5.3% at the start of 2018. At the same time, loan loss provisions created as at the reporting date exceeded NPLs twofold just as at the start of 2018.
Business volumes

The Group’s total assets reached RUB 6,532.1 bn as at 31 December 2018 – up by 18.6% against RUB 5,509.9 bn as at 01 January 2018.
In particular, cash and cash equivalents amounted to RUB 1,049.3 bn as at 31 December 2018 compared to RUB 649.0 bn as at 01 January 2018. The increase in the balances of cash and cash equivalents was driven by the investment of customer funds in highly liquid assets.
The gross loan book before loan loss provisions was RUB 4,239.9 bn as at 31 December 2018 – up by 13.2% compared to RUB 3,745.8 bn as at 01 January 2018.
The loan book (net of loan loss provisions and profit/loss on loans accounted at fair value) in the Group’s total assets accounted for 61.8% compared to 64.5% at the start of the year.
Corporate loans were up by 11.2% in 2018 at RUB 3,733.0 bn as at 31 December 2018 compared to RUB 3,356.7 bn as at 01 January 2018. Retail loans grew strongly, with their volume up by 30.3% to RUB 506.9 as at 31 December 2018 against RUB 389.1 bn as at 01 January 2018, including the growth of 5.1% in 4Q. Retail loans accounted for 12.0% of the gross loan book as at 31 December 2018, with their share up by 1.6 p.p. in the gross loan book in 2018.
Mortgage loans form the bulk of the Group’s retail loans, accounting for 34.1% increase to RUB 362.2 bn as at 31 December 2018 against the start of the year. Mortgage loans in the retail loan book were also up by 2.0 p.p. from 60.4% to 71.4%. According to the rating prepared by дом.рф and Frank Research Group consulting company, in 2018 the Bank ranks among the three leading banks in Russia for mortgage loan disbursement. In 2018, mortgage loans disbursed by the Bank 2018 totalled RUB 149.2 bn – 4.6% market share. To deliver such high results, the Bank embarked on a few moves, including a change in the terms of mortgage lending programmes and an electronic registration of mortgage transactions, which boosted up online mortgage loan applications, and also scaled up the advertising campaign.
Consumer loans to retail customers also grew strongly in 2018 – by 24.2% to RUB 138.6 bn as at 31 December 2018.
The Group’s securities and investments in associates portfolio was up by 12.2% in 2018 at RUB 754.6 bn as at 31 December 2018 compared to RUB 672.8 bn at the start of the year. Securities and investments in associates share in the Group’s assets was down by 0.6 p.p. and reached 11.6% at the reporting date compared to 12.2% at the start of the year. The profile of the Group’s securities and investments in associates portfolio mostly includes fixed income instruments such as investments in Russian government debt, bonds and promissory notes of Russian issuers. However, the share of debt securities has been gradually declining, with 2.7 p.p. reduction in 2018 to 70.4% against 73.1% as at 01 January 2018, whereas the share of equity instruments has been increasing accordingly, due to the repayment of some debt instruments and higher equity investments.
Amounts owed to financial institutions amounted to RUB 405.9 bn as at 31 December 2018 – up 32.1% compared to RUB 307.2 bn at year-end 2017– mostly due to the placement of short-term funds of correspondent banks in the Bank’s current accounts and deposits. These made it possible to increase the share of banks funds in the liabilities from 6.2% to 6.9% in 2018.
Corporate and retail deposits grew 22.9% in 2018 to RUB 4,813.5 bn as at 31 December 2018 compared to RUB 3,915.4 bn at year-end 2017. In particular, corporate deposits reached RUB 3,822.7 bn as at 31 December 2018 – up 24.4% in 2018 mostly due to the growing funds of state-run companies in Group accounts. Retail deposits and accounts were up by 17.5% in 2018 to RUB 990.8 bn.
Customer deposits in Group liabilities accounted for 81.4% at year-end 2018, which is 2.4 p.p. higher than the indicator at year-end 2017.
Capital borrowings, including Eurobonds and local bonds were down to RUB 326.6 bn as at 31 December 2018 compared to RUB 339.6 bn at year-end 2017. In 2018, RUB 5.0 bn bonds issued in 2015 were redeemed, as well as EUR 1.0 mln Eurobonds issued in 2013. The year of 2018 also saw the placement of local bonds totalling: RUB 0.7 bn to be redeemed in 2019; RUB 2.3 bn to be redeemed in 2020; RUB 7.1 bn to be redeemed in 2022 and RUB 38.0 bn to be redeemed in 2023. As a result, capital borrowings in the resource base declined from 6.9% to 5.5% in 2018.
Capital adequacy

The Group’s Basel I total capital based on consolidated IFRS financials amounted to RUB 676.4 bn as at 31 December 2018 – 1.6% up against RUB 665.6 bn as at 01 January 2018. In 2018, the Group obtained funding from the Gazprom Group in perpetual subordinated non-interest bearing deposits totalling RUB 25.5 bn. Also in August 2018, the Group placed RUB 20 bn subordinated perpetual bonds. The bonds do not set a maturity date; the issuer’s call option is envisaged in 5.5 years from the placement date and from that date on – at the date of each coupon payment. The terms of obtained subordinated deposits and issued perpetual bonds make it possible to account them in Tier 1 Capital for the purpose of capital adequacy ratios calculation. The Bank of Russia also approved their inclusion in the additional capital when calculating capital adequacy in accordance with the national rules. In December 2018, the Group bought back prior to maturity USD 750 mln of placed subordinated bonds accounted in Tier 2 Capital (Basel I) which was caused by this instrument’s reduced performance for the purpose of its inclusion in the calculation of the capital adequacy ratio.
The Group’s risk weighted assets were up 3.8% in 2018.
Hence, the Group’s capital adequacy indicators as at 31 December 2018 were as follows: the Group’s total capital adequacy ratio at 12.4% (compared to 12.6% at the start of 2018 – a drop by 0.2 p.p. for the year); the Tier 1 capital adequacy ratio at 10.5% (compared to 9.8% at the start of 2018– up 0.7 p.p. within the year).
[1] From 01 January 2018, the Group’s reporting is prepared based on the requirements of IFRS 9 “Financial Instruments” and IFRS 15 “Revenue from Contracts with Customers”. Meanwhile, comparatives for the year of 2017 and as at 31 December 2017 have not been adjusted, whereas figures for 2018, as at 01 January 2019 and as at 01 January 2018 are shown with due regard to the requirements of the new standards.
[2] Includes gross corporate and retail loans accounted at amortized cost before loan provisioning and also loans accounted at fair value
[3] Including trading securities, investment securities, and investments in associates
[4] Including bonds issued both at the domestic and international markets
[5] In accordance with Basel I Framework
[6] Loans are deemed “non-performing” if their principal or interest is 90+ days overdue, as well as in the event of counterparty default
[7] The ratio of net interest income to the chronological mean of quarter-end interest earning assets for the year. Interest-bearing assets include those due from financial institutions, loans to customers and debt securities (all before allowances of loan loss provisions)
[8] Credit loss provision charges and profit/loss on loans accounted at fair value as of the reporting period to the chronological mean of quarter-end interest earning assets for the reporting period
[9] Operating expenses include salaries and administrative expenses. Operating income includes net interest income, non-interest income and non-banking operating profits. Operating income does not include provisions and profit/loss on loans accounted at fair value.