On October 16, Moscow hosted the VI Russian Islamic Economic Forum, titled "Russia—A Partnership Guarantee," organized by Sber in collaboration with the International Assembly of Islamic Business (IAIB). Attendees included Senior Vice President of Sberbank Oleg Ganeev, Russian Presidential Aide Ruslan Edelgeriev, IAIB President Marat Kabaev, Head of Sberbank's Center for Partner Financing and Special Projects, Behnam Gurban-Zade, along with other business and government representatives.
According to Ganeev, from May 2023 to October 2024, sales of partner financing products at Sber saw exponential growth, with the volume of its retail portfolio in this segment increasing sevenfold. As of October 11, 2024, the total volume of deposits in partner financing reached nearly 2 billion rubles, with over 20,000 transactions and more than 11,000 new clients.
Forum participants emphasized the importance of expanding the Central Bank's partner financing experiment under Federal Law 417. Ganeev noted that Sber received official guidance from the Central Bank, enabling Russians to apply for partner financing products at any Sber branch, with issuance managed by pilot regions. Currently, Sber operates three Islamic finance offices—in Tatarstan, Bashkortostan, and Chechnya—and plans to open a new office in Makhachkala by the end of the year.
Gurban-Zade highlighted the Sukuk market—an Islamic bond equivalent—as a key area for attracting foreign investment from partner countries. Sber is in the final stages of developing a Sukuk product based on its Investment Bond Structure (IBS) concept and plans to pilot this product in an experimental region under Federal Law 417 by year-end to assess demand and gather feedback for broader distribution.
Gurban-Zade stated that, given current legislation and customer demand, the domestic market potential for Sukuk is around 200 billion rubles, a figure that could increase with supportive legislation. Sber has successfully implemented tools for international projects that comply with Islamic financing standards, such as Musharaka (partnership in equity participation), through which Sber creates SPVs to share risks equally with partners.
"In particular, we observe strong interest from international investors in areas like food security, tourism, and lifestyle, driven by a consolidated approach to client needs based on international standards of ethics and management," added Gurban-Zade.