The international agency Brand Finance has released the ranking of the leading brands for 2018. With Sberbank, for the first time, a Russian banking brand has been recognised as the strongest banking brand in the world. Same as last year, Sberbank was once again recognised as the strongest and most valuable brand in Russia and Central and Eastern Europe. Over the past year, Sberbank’s brand strength index increased from 90 to 93 points, while its brand value grew from US$ 11.6 bln to US$ 12.4 bln in 2018.
CEO and Chairman of the Executive Board of Sberbank Herman Gref: “For the first time ever a Russian banking brand has topped Brand Finance’s leading global rating. The fact that the professional community thinks so highly of us is the well-deserved result of a team that every day works to make Sberbank one of the world’s best tech companies. Many innovations and technologies have been developed and implemented at Sberbank. Now, they are being used by banks and companies all over the world. Global leadership also shows that we have chosen the right strategy – a strategy focused on technological leadership and developing an ecosystem of products and services to provide clients with a complete range of financial and nonfinancial services for all situations in life.”
Sberbank’s innovative services set trends in various areas of life: for example, Sberbank was the first to bring instant money transfers using a mobile phone number to the Russian market. Today, Sberbank is the leader of the Russian market in terms of P2P transfer volume. In 2018, Sberbank was ranked 6th largest acquirer in the world and Russia’s biggest acquirer (according to The Nilson Report) with more than 1.7 mln POS terminals and 15 mln monthly public transport payments using bank cards via the bank’s acquiring network. Sberbank is also the leader in terms of NFC payment share.
CEO of Brand Finance David Haigh: “Sberbank’s high level of customer centricity and a wide range of financial products create the kind of brand loyalty that results in long-term customer relationships. Unparalleled within Russia, Sberbank actively interacts with customers, develops products and broadens the reach of its ecosystem.”
Good business performance contributed to the increase in Sberbank’s brand value, however, currency depreciation had an adverse effect on the dollar amount of the brand value. Brand Finance calculates the brand value using 19 factors such as brand investment, familiarity, preference, employee score, corporate reputation and so on. Together with earnings, brand strength is a key factor in determining brand value. Brand Finance’s ranking complies with ISO 10688.