Sberbanks Historic $10 Billion Dividend Decision Marks Third Consecutive Year of Record Payouts

Russia’s leading bank, Sberbank, announced on Monday that it will distribute unprecedented dividends for the third consecutive year based on its 2024 performance.

This decision aligns with the Finance Ministry’s directive urging state-controlled enterprises to share at least 50% of their earnings as dividends. The ministry maintains a controlling stake in Sberbank via the National Welfare Fund.

For 2024, Sberbank plans to allocate 786.9 billion rubles (approximately $10 billion) in dividends, translating to 34.84 rubles per share. This follows an impressive annual profit of 1.58 trillion rubles (around $22.9 billion), reflecting a nearly 5% increase from the previous year.

Dividends from major state enterprises are a vital revenue stream for Russia’s federal budget, which has allocated a landmark 13.2 trillion rubles, or 6.2% of GDP, for military expenditures this year.

Sberbank had previously announced record dividend distributions of 752 billion rubles for 2023 and 565 billion rubles for 2022. The bank intends to continue distributing 50% of its net profit as dividends until at least 2026, as reported by the business publication Kommersant.

Moreover, about 25% of the dividend payments for 2024 will be retained in restricted accounts for foreign investors from nations deemed “unfriendly” by Moscow, according to the same report by Kommersant.