Optimization of the structure of VEB.RF, which began after the arrival in May 2018 as head of the state corporation of former Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, will lead to a reduction of about 2.5 thousand employees in VEB itself and three “daughters” that are integrated into the parent organization.

One third of them have already been reduced: the number of VEB staff itself after Shuvalov’s arrival has decreased from 1.8 thousand to 1 thousand people, a source in VEB said to RBC and another source in the state corporation confirmed.

VEB Leasing, VEB Service and VEB Capital are waiting for larger reductions, some of whose employees will be transferred to the parent structure. In these companies, 2.5 thousand people worked, but after optimizing their staff will be reduced to 800 people, RBC sources said.

Optimize until May

In May 2019, state optimization should be completed, Igor Shuvalov said on March 26, without disclosing details. "From May 1, all employees who remain within the framework of VEB will receive confirmation and invitations to work," he noted. “Taking into account the integration of the functions of VEB Leasing, VEB Capital and VEB Service, there will be no more than 1,5 thousand people in the organization,” explained RBC in the press service of VEB.RF.

About 300 specialists performing service functions will work in a single service center for development institutes in Voronezh, representative of VEB Andrei Samokhin told RBC. These are both employees of VEB Service and specialists from VEB who performed service functions. In Voronezh, a service center is being created for all development institutions whose work is supervised by VEB - Dom RR, the SME Corporation and the Russian Export Center. In Voronezh, there are already 550 employees working at the home of the Russian Federation. Relocation is scheduled for the period from May to 1 September.

“The main principle of the state corporation’s structure is to reduce bureaucratic barriers, eliminate duplicate functions, speed up business processes and decision making, streamline workflow between departments and external clients, create conditions for horizontal interaction within the team,” said RBC Samokhin.

In the whole group, instead of 8 thousand people, only 3 thousand will remain, Shuvalov said in December. These data concern the whole VEB group, in addition to VEB Leasing, VEB Service and VEB Capital, it also includes VEB Innovations, InfraVEB, the Russian Export Center, the Far East Development Fund and Svyaz-Bank. The main part of the reduction of the group’s employees will be ensured by the planned transfer of Svyaz-Bank to the government, the source told RBC. “The cuts will affect the whole group, Svyaz-Bank will naturally disappear,” he said. The bank employs 3.3 thousand people.

What "daughters" will join the VEB

VEB Leasing is integrated into the VEB structure. Now leasing is becoming a tool for implementing VEB.RF focus projects, RBC President of VEB Leasing said earlier to Artem Dovlatov. VEB's leasing business will be reformed: the state corporation will abandon the retail business, mainly car leasing, in favor of projects in the field of urban economics, which is becoming one of the main areas of VEB activity. At the same time, leasing projects will be developed in domestic engineering, shipbuilding and aircraft building.

VEB Service is a structure of a state corporation that provided support for its work: legal services, IT, accountants, financial monitoring, personnel management.

VEB Capital manages the problem and non-core assets of VEB, and also provides services in the field of management, development and sale of assets not belonging to the VEB group. "Daughter" is headed by the former head of the housing department of the Ministry of Defense, reserve colonel Sergei Pirogov.

“The activities of a subsidiary can be non-priority for VEB or the subsidiary can be liquidated if its activities are duplicated by the internal divisions of VEB,” Anton Lopatin, an analyst with Fitch Ratings, justifies the logic of the decisions made. “If there is a goal to optimize operating expenses, then it is logical to remove the doubling and concentrate processes in VEB,” he points out.
What effect?

According to expert estimates, the effect of the reductions will be 30–40% of the salary fund and administrative expenses, led calculations of the benefits of optimizing the source in the state corporation. About such assessments knows another interlocutor of RBC.

If we proceed from the above estimate of savings, only salaries in the head VEB can save about 3 billion rubles. According to the reporting of the corporation under RAS for the fourth quarter, the average number of personnel for the last year was 1,408 people, and the wage fund reached 8.7 billion rubles. plus social benefits of 826 million rubles.

The state corporation did not specify the terms on which employees leave the company. When the summer wave of reductions was conducted in VEB, employees who quit before July 31 by agreement of the parties could apply for five salaries, as well as the right to receive a bonus for 2017 and the first half of 2018, RBC wrote earlier.

From losses to profit

VEB's business has been unprofitable for several years: in 2017, the loss of Vnesheconombank (VEB) under IFRS amounted to 287.7 billion rubles. against 111.9 billion rubles. loss in 2016 (an increase of 2.6 times). In the first nine months of 2018, VEB reported a profit of 6 billion rubles.

“Profitability is not a priority for VEB. VEB, unlike commercial banks, cannot attract deposits and settlement accounts of clients from the market, which leads to high funding costs and low margins, so access to a small plus (excluding government support) for VEB can already be considered a good result. ” - says Lopatin from Fitch.