Russia’s largest state-controlled bank Sberbank (Sber) posted 21% year-on-year growth in Russian Accounting Standards (RAS) profit to RUB1.48 trillion ($17bn) in 2023, with RUB116bn RAS profit in December 2023 alone. As followed by bne IntelliNews, Sberbank posted a RUB357bn ($4.5bn) net profit under IFRS in 1Q23 and RUB737.5bn ($7.9bn) in 1H23. The profit for 1Q23 alone was 1.5 times higher than the bottom line posted for all of 2022, when the bank came under sanctions for Russia’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine. In 2023, return on equity remained above the long-term average at 24.7%…