MOSCOW, May 26 (RIA Novosti) - Sberbank, Russia's largest retail savings bank, said on Tuesday its net profit calculated to Russian Accounting Standards fell 98%, year-on-year, in January-April to 0.8 billion rubles ($25.6 million).
Profit before tax declined 97% in the reporting period to 1.8 billion rubles ($57.7 million), Sberbank said.
Sberbank officials earlier attributed a slump in financial results in 2009 to enlarged provisions for possible losses on loans.
According to Sberbank, expenses on provisions increased 1,000%, year-on-year, in January-April 2009.
At the same time, operating expenses declined 7.5% in the reporting period while operating income before the creation of provisions increased 37.6%. Net interest income grew 46.2% and net fee income was up 10.7%.
