VTB Bank may waive dividend payment this year

The management of Russia's VTB Bank, in which Azerbaijan is a shareholder, will recommend not to pay dividends for 2024 due to tightened regulations and high rates, the first deputy chairman of the bank's management board, Dmitry Pyanov, told journalists, Report informs via Interfax.

"We, at least as management, will propose not to pay dividends for 2024 due to, probably, an unprecedented number of simultaneously emerging negative factors affecting our ability to increase capital adequacy," Pyanov said.

VTB didn't pay dividends for 2021-2023. In the baseline scenario, the bank plans to resume payments for 2025.

Pyanov emphasized that the likelihood of paying dividends will be determined not only by the profit for 2025, but also by the regulatory, macroeconomic and geopolitical landscapes.

In 2024, VTB increased its net profit under IFRS by 28% to $6.3 billion.

In 2025, the bank plans to earn 430 billion rubles in profit ($4.9 billion at the current exchange rate).

The main shareholder of VTB Bank is the Russian government, represented by the Federal Agency for State Property Management, which owns 60.93% of the Group's share capital. The remaining shares are distributed between GDR holders and minority shareholders — individuals and legal entities.

As of 2021, the State Oil Fund of Azerbaijan (2.95%), Qatar Holding LLC (2.35%), and Otkritie NPF (3.2%) also owned shareholdings.

SOFAR has been a VTB shareholder since 2013. Since investing in VTB, the State Oil Fund has been paid 3.9 billion rubles in dividends.