Attacks On Wildberries Have Led To A Crisis At Major Russian Banks
- 7.08.2026, 8:57
Interesting data from the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine.
Russia’s largest state-owned banks—Sberbank and VTB—are seeing a deterioration in the quality of their loan portfolios due to a rise in non-performing loans and an increase in loan loss reserves. The deterioration in the mortgage portfolio has been particularly noticeable. This is evidenced by data from the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine.
The share of Stage 3 non-performing loans in Cbera’s portfolio rose from 4.8% to 5.5% over the quarter — with a portfolio volume of $658.7 billion, this amounts to approximately $36.3 billion in non-performing loans, according to the financial statements for the first half of 2026.
The bank increased its provisions for potential losses by 8.6%. Defaulted loans in project finance increased by 27.9%, in the corporate segment by 22.6%, and past-due debt by 23.7%. The worst performance was seen in the mortgage segment, where the volume of delinquent loans rose by nearly 50%.
The change in the credit committee’s focus was also acknowledged by the chairman of the board, German Gref. According to him, the bank is now more focused on restructuring existing debt than on issuing new loans. Deputy Chairman of the Management Board Taras Skvortsov simultaneously lowered the forecast for Russia’s GDP growth in 2026 to 0–0.5% and warned of a possible tax increase in 2027.
E-commerce is a separate source of concern. The bank has noted an increase in risks among companies in this segment, particularly surrounding the Wildberries marketplace, whose customers are turning to the bank en masse to restructure their debts.
VTB is cutting staff and has reached its capital limit
Russia’s second-largest state-owned bank, which holds about 8 trillion rubles in retail deposits, announced the layoff of 10% of its headquarters staff. Profit for the first half of the year fell by 20%, and in the second quarter, by 34%. Provisions for non-performing loans rose by nearly a third during the quarter, to 66.5 billion rubles.
Return on equity fell from 20.5% to 13%, and the capital adequacy ratio dropped to 10.7%—while the central bank’s minimum requirement stands at 10%.
Difficulties had been mounting since last year: by the end of 2025, the share of non-performing loans in VTB’s portfolio had nearly doubled, reaching 14.2%. This is about one-third higher than the average for the Russian banking system.
Loans to military-related enterprises obscure the true scale
Loss estimates may be too low, as the bank issued a significant portion of its loans to enterprises involved in military production. The market is already reacting: VTB shares have fallen to historic lows on the Moscow Exchange, partly due to investor panic over the bank’s strategic partnership with Wildberries.
The common thread for both institutions is expensive loans, weak economic growth, and sanctions that are deteriorating the quality of bank assets. Building up reserves, restructuring debt, and cutting costs carry the risk of new defaults and further layoffs in the financial sector.