The parties are set to develop cooperation while introducing and adapting Sber ecosystem products, including hedging and commodity trading in relation to prepayment of physical deliveries, commodity repurchase agreements, and other financial instruments. The agreement also provides corporate training for ERG employees at SberUniversity.

Benedikt Sobotka, CEO of Eurasian Resources Group: “The memorandum of intent reaffirms our long-standing strategic partnership with Sber. We anticipate that the new fields of collaboration will give an additional impetus to enhancing ERG’s business capabilities and its operational efficiency and applying the knowledge and expertise of our employees. We intend to build on our existing achievements, while continuing to find new solutions through our synergy with Sber, one of the world’s leading international fintech institutions. Sber is dedicated to actively developing a fully-fledged ecosystem. Knowledge sharing in this area will help open up many more areas for innovation and enhance the efficiency of our commercial activities in the long run.”

Anatoly Popov, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board, Sberbank: “For years we’ve been working closely with ERG, providing our financial products, primarily lending ones. The memorandum of intent we’ve signed expands the range of our cooperation significantly. We are starting to work closely with the services of the Sber ecosystem that increase the efficiency of doing business. Together with ERG we will be arranging personnel development programmes at our SberUniversity, which is one of the best corporate universities in the world. And, of course, we will pay even closer attention to the issues of risk hedging and commodity trading – amid high metal price volatility, it’s critical for the sustainable development of the company in the long term.”

As part of the Group’s work to prepare the business for the future, ERG finalised a new Digital Strategy in 2019. Designed to guide the Group on how it implements and utilises digital technology in moving towards Industry 4.0, the Strategy places particular focus on the development of key employee capabilities, ensuring optimal digital investment decisions and the establishment of adaptive/modular digital architectures to support the business. In addition, ERG continues to explore ways to leverage new digital technology and support independent, sustainable development in its local communities – including through facilitating local entrepreneurship.