The leaders of Brazil, India, China, Russia and South Africa came together in New Delhi on 28-29 March for the fourth BRICS summit.

On the invitation of the organisers, the chairman of the Board of Directors of Center-invest Bank, Dr. Vasily Vysokov, presented a paper on “Sustainable Banking in the Post-Crisis Economy” to the summit’s business forum.

 With a focus on long-term profitability, rather than on instantaneous, speculative gains, the sustainable banking business model is becoming increasingly popular. It is only by applying international best practice and using modern banking technologies that commercial banks can operate profitably in the post-crisis environment. This same rule also applies to a bank’s business customers, and a sustainable bank will help its customers to obtain modern equipment and to adopt the most effective technologies so that their products can compete on global markets. 

Through its lending to SMEs, Center-invest Bank has started the modernization of the SME sector. A significant number of our customers have used loans from the bank to increase their business efficiency three- to five-fold. Our loan portfolio also includes energy efficiency projects and loans for the introduction of new technologies in southern Russia’s agribusiness sector.

An important element of sustainable banking is the idea that banks should nurture the new generation of entrepreneurs by providing training for schoolchildren and students, as well as a range of programmes for business start-ups, young people and women.

The forum was particularly interested to hear about Center-invest Bank’s experience because southern Russia is playing the same role in the Russian economy as are the BRICS countries in the global economy: through their own efforts, people with relatively modest means are changing their businesses and their lives. By adapting to the new environment more quickly than others, they are ensuring that they can compete in the post-crisis world.