Sberbank leave Three board members are leaving at the same time: Alexandra Buriko, Sergey Maltsev (who are both deputy heads of the board), and Natalya Alymova. The bank's first deputy chairmen will take over their responsibilities. The bank stated that the reorganization occurred “as part of the transformation of the management model and updating the strategy.”
Buriko became the director of Sberbank's financial department in 2020 and joined the board in February 2022. Maltsev has been on the board since November 2020, while Alymova has been Senior Vice President since 2018.
“After the boards of VTB and FC Otkritie were fully sanctioned, people are getting nervous – many have assets and families in Europe. They are used to a certain lifestyle and do not want to lose it.” explained previously one of the sources for Frank Media.
Since the start of the special operation, several key employees have left the bank at once. For example, on February 25 (the day after the eruption of hostilities in Ukraine), the deputy chairman of the board, Lev Khasis, left for the United States. He had been with Sberbank since 2013, and his decision was announced right after the conflict in Ukraine began.
On February 27, it was reported by the media that the bank's executive vice president and chief technical officer, David Rafalovsky, who oversaw the creation of Russia's most powerful computer, Christofari, in 2019, had left.
In early April, The Bell reported, citing sources, that the head of SberX, Andrei Vanin, who had been leading the division since 2019, had also departed. According to the publication, this move could lead to the dissolution of SberX. confirmedthe bank announced that the top manager decided to continue his career outside the bank for personal reasons, and he was replaced by the first deputy head of the board, Kirill Tsarev.
Additionally, on May 16, TASS reported, citing sources, that Andrey Shemetov, senior vice president of Sberbank, had been dismissed. He left his position (it was noted that he had not been at work for two months) to pursue his own projects. There were also reports, from Frank Media, citing sources, that senior vice president Yulia Chupina (overseer of the Strategy and Development department) had left the company. Sberbank did not comment on this information.
Sanctions imposed on Sberbank
On February 24, the United States placed Sberbank on the sanctions list, followed by several other countries. Citymobil, the joint venture service between Sberbank and VK, ceased operations since mid-April. RBC sources reported on March 21 that another service from the ecosystem, “Kitchen in the District,” was put up for sale.
The American IT company Apple removed the Sberbank application (as well as SberBusiness, SberInvestor X, Sberbank Investor, and others) from the AppStore on April 12. These actions were linked to the sanctions against Sberbank, VTB, Promsvyazbank, Otkritie, Sovcombank, Novikombank, and Alfa-Bank. As part of the sanctions, US legal entities and individuals are prohibited from engaging in any transactions with the blacklisted organizations.
Canada and the United Kingdom separately imposed their sanctions against Sberbank. The credit institution said that this would not affect the service to the Russians, “since the system has already adapted to the previously introduced restrictions.”
