Why does Sberbank drop "bank" from the name?
Russian banking giant Sberbank dropping the "bank" from its name as a part of their new philosophy.
We have witnessed fearless news from Russian banking giant Sberbank. Sberbank organized their very first major virtual conference SberConf focuses on its digital transformation, new services, and, surprisingly, some hardware!
Herman Gref, CEO of Sberbank, presents the bank's new brand and philosophy on SberConf. The first surprising news was about the bank's name, Sberbank decided to drop "bank" from their name and now we will call them Sber. This virtual conference was very similar to tech companies' annual events. That's normal because directly its part of their new strategy and aligns with it.
Some key findings from the SberConf:
- Sberbank drops the "bank" part from its name. From now on, we will call them just Sber.
- Sberbank has decided to change its strategy. They unveiled their new logo, rebranding concept, and a new philosophy.
- Sber organized the very first virtual conference, SberConf, just like Apple or Google's events. Now the company will announce their new products and services at this annual event.
- Sber wants to be a pure tech company, giving banking and financial services for its customers.
- Sber also announced its hardware product line, which is very surprising. They're launching TV streaming box SberBox, smart speaker and virtual assistant SberPortal. On this part, now they will compete with Apple, Google and Amazon.
- SberDisk and SberCloud services will be offering cloud storage with a competitive price range. Sber offers 1TB of storage for 249 RUB (approximately $3), competing with Google and Dropbox.
- Sber launches SberID. If you would like to log in to any Sber services, one login will be more than enough, and customers will have a unique SberID.
- Sber is also rebranding and deploying SberInvestments, SberInsurance, SberPrivate Banking (customers with assets over RUB 100M -approx. $1.2 million) SberSpasibo, a rewards program for all Sber products.
- SberMarket establishes as a marketplace for groceries. Now you will visit SberMarket and you can buy all your grocery needs through SberMarket and pay with Sber's payment methods.
- Sber's rough estimate for the introduction of the new brand, in addition to their regular efforts, stands at about 2.5 billion RUB (approx. $32 million) within the next five to six years.
- The majority shareholder of Sberbank is the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, owning 50 % + 1 voting share of Sberbank's voting shares. So we can tell that this vast digital transformation process part of Russia's vision.
