FX.co ★ Sberbank to compete with Google and Amazon

Russia has suddenly found out one more reason to feel proud. The Economists, a reputable news provider, said that Russian Sberbank is a serious rival to such tech giants as Google, Amazon, and Netflix.

Of course, the market capitalization and global competitiveness of Sberbank are rather low. However, in Russia, this system has become really popular. “Sberbank has pulled off one long-odds pirouette—from a communist state enterprise, with all the attention to customer care and corporate probity you would expect, into a modern lender,” experts say. The reputation of the bank contributes to its development. In Russia, Sberbank is likely to become an alternative to global service platforms. Even now, it is the most expensive Russian company listed on the exchanges. In Europe, it is the second-most-valuable bank behind HSBC.

In fact, Sberbank is one of few companies that earn money despite the fact that most of its shares are owned by the government. “Mr Gref has a vision of Sberbank as a purveyor of everything digital,” authors of the article pinpointed. “The model Mr Gref has in mind is not American or European but Asian,” they added.