MOSCOW, July 14 (RIA Novosti) - Sberbank, Russia's largest retail savings bank, said on Tuesday its net profit calculated to International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) declined 98%, year-on-year, in January-March 2009 to 0.6 billion rubles ($18.5 million).
The figure is far below the 2.7 billion ruble ($83 million) consensus forecast of analysts compiled by RIA Novosti.
Sberbank, in which Russia's Central Bank holds over 60% of voting shares, said its net profit declined in the reporting period as the bank increased provisions for bad loans by 1,110% to 90.7 billion rubles ($2.79 billion) due to the deterioration of the economic situation.
The share of bad loans in Sberbank's loan portfolio stood at 3.48% as of April 1, 2009, the bank said.
