Sberbank to enter the market of business process outsourcing

Sberbank announces that it has acquired Intercomp, a leading company on the business process outsourcing market in Russia. Sberbank has acquired 100% of the company's shares from a group of investors headed by Elbrus Capital fund. The parties signed legally binding documents in September, and the acquisition transaction was closed upon receipt of regulatory approvals, including those from the Bank of Russia and the FAS.

Business process outsourcing is one of Sberbank Ecosystem's strategic directions. The acquisition of Intercomp will allow the bank to become a major BPO and SaaS player for various business segments.

Lev Khasis, First Deputy Chairman of Sberbank Board:
"Sberbank has completed several major technological and organizational transformations of supporting functions and has gained extensive experience in building customer service processes on a scale comparable with global service providers. Combining the bank's unique experience with Intercomp's expertise (a leading HR and financial outsourcing company) will allow qualitatively improving what Sberbank Ecosystem offers to its customers."

Incorporating business process outsourcing in the ecosystem for legal entities will enable Sberbank Group customers to get comprehensive offers, a single customer experience for both banking and non-banking services and develop more efficiently, focusing on business solutions without being distracted by supporting business processes. Outsourcing accounting, HR recordkeeping, payroll and other supporting business processes allows companies to focus solely on the development of their main activity, and the costs that they pay for these functions will be reduced thanks to a more efficient management of processes and technologies by the service provider. By outsourcing, companies are also less likely to get claims from state authorities.

After the acquisition of Intercomp, Sberbank plans to scale the business by entering new segments (micro and small businesses) as well as by increasing sales through banking channels, expanding the range of products, and improving the performance of the company's operations thanks to new technologies. The Corporate Investment Business unit headed by Deputy Chairman of Sberbank Board Anatoly Popov will coordinate the company's further development and its integration into the bank's ecosystem.

Intercomp's current and future clients will be able to reap the benefits of the association of Sberbank Group with the largest business process outsourcing company in Russia as well as get more high-tech solutions for various industries. This acquisition transaction will not only result in a number of advantages for Sberbank customers, but it will also help improve the business environment in Russia by generating new opportunities for clients, increasing investment attractiveness, developing the service industry and attracting young as well as experienced specialists in various regions of the Russian Federation.

Business process outsourcing (BPO) entails transferring processes to a third-party service provider, thus allowing clients to minimize costs on transactional processes. Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) is a subscription to a ready-made web service fully maintained by a provider.

Intercomp is a leading accounting and payroll outsourcing company, which has been operating in Russia for over 20 years. The company has also offices in Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and Georgia. The company's key services are payroll, financial and HR outsourcing. Intercomp's current client base consists of over 800 large and medium companies in more than 30 industries as well as Russian public organizations. Intercomp has been awarded several international service quality standards certificates. Intercomp Ukraine was not included in the acquisition transaction, so it is still owned by the group of investors headed by Elbrus Capital fund, and it will be rebranded soon.