Sberbank offered clients cards and accounts that meet Shariah requirements

Sberbank offered debit cards and savings accounts that meet Shariah requirements to clients as part of a pilot project in nine Russian regions. Until now, only Tatarstan Ak Bars provided such services. The prospects for Islamic financial products do not yet cause much optimism among bankers. This is a narrow market in which the ratio of development effort and product returns is not very attractive, experts say.

Sberbank announced on the release of new financial products – accounts “Amana” (analogous to a savings account, but without accruing interest) and the Adafa debit card (a payment account is opened for it, also without accruing interest), which comply with Sharia law. The services are developed in accordance with the standards of the Accounting and Auditing Organization for Islamic Institutions (AAOIFI) and are certified by the Shariah Advisory Council of Sberbank.

According to the bank’s senior vice president Oleg Ganeev, nine regions were selected as the first pilot territories, including Moscow, where there is the greatest demand for Islamic finance products.

They are available to “everyone, regardless of religious affiliation,” said Mr. Ganeev.

Ak Bars Bank already offers similar products. According to information on its website, transactions with a number of MCC codes are prohibited on cards, which, in particular, include trade and service enterprises for the wholesale sale of alcohol, bars, discos, nightclubs, pawn shops, tobacco stores, gambling and others. It is stipulated that the bank is not responsible for card transactions made by its holder, which may contradict Sharia. Ak Bars did not respond to Kommersant’s request.

To the register of participants in the experiment on partnership financing of the Central Bank (see “Kommersant” from July 19) only Ak Bars is included, Sberbank is not included. Experiment passes in Bashkiria, Dagestan, Tatarstan and Chechnya from September 1 to September 1, 2025. However, Sberbank explained that cards and accounts are not subject to regulation by the law on the partnership financing experiment. “They comply with both the norms of Islamic banking and the legislation of the Russian Federation, therefore they can be positioned in any branch,” the credit organization emphasized. The project has not been extended to all regions because “its potential is currently being assessed.”

The Central Bank did not respond to Kommersant’s request. As part of the experiment, the law provides for separate accounting of conventional transactions and transactions within the framework of Islamic banking. As a source in the banking market explained to Kommersant, even outside of the experiment, within the framework of analytical accounting, it is possible to “colorize” the accounts and divide them, for example, into “green” ones that meet Sharia requirements, and “red” ones that are ordinary.

“However, “green” money must go to an account in another bank for purposes that also do not contradict Sharia norms, and here the task ceases to be trivial, since the money goes through a correspondent account with the Central Bank, where it is mixed with “red” rubles,” notes the interlocutor “Kommersant”.

Theoretically, this problem, according to him, can be solved if you show that against those who came from the bank to the correspondent account with the Central Bank of the “green” 100 rubles. The 100 rubles left from this correspondent account are worth. to another bank to the account of Shariah-compliant companies. “But this should already be confirmed by a special Sharia audit, which is technically feasible, but requires certain efforts,” says Kommersant’s source.

Perhaps this is precisely the reason for the lack of great interest in the topic of Islamic banking among a wide range of Russian credit institutions. According to another Kommersant source, even after the adoption of the law on Islamic banking, the segment will account for no more than 5% of the business. Oleg Ganeev said in the summer that over several years the Islamic banking market in the Russian Federation amounted to 30 billion rubles, of which 20 billion rubles. accounts for Sberbank (see. “Kommersant” from August 28). Meanwhile, Sberbank’s net commission income exceeded 65 billion rubles in September alone.

Either the largest credit institutions or banks with competence in this area are ready to enter the narrow market, since this requires significant refinement of products and personnel training, experts say. “It is quite simple to ensure compliance with Shariah standards for debit bank cards – you need to eliminate the accrual of interest on the balance,” explained Roman Prokhorov, head of the board of the Financial Innovations association. But, the expert clarified, for standard credit products the restructuring is much more radical, “few are yet ready to dive into a market with unobvious prospects.”

Maxim Builov