HIGHLIGHTS-Sberbank CEO Gref on Opel, loans, shares, aspirations

MOSCOW, Sept 25 (Reuters) - The following are highlights from the Reuters News interview with the chief executive of Russia's top bank, state controlled Sberbank SBER03.MM.

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OPEL

"This is not a strategic investment for us." "We're very much interested in getting our stake in the hands of an industrial partner ... One of the possible options if we have any difficulties with establishing such an industrial partner would be sell our stake to VEB bank."

"According to the terms of the deal, we have a right to sell our stake without any consultations with other stakeholders to (Russian carmarker) GAZ and VEB bank."

"Formally there are no problems with closing the deal. We are ready to give the European Commission all the documents and explanations it needs to form an independent opinion."

"We announced staff cuts of 10,500 people. We went in with this plan and it is set out in the business plan. We agreed it with the unions. These proposals were accepted by the governments. Now we are entering the difficult stage where we have to carry them out. It is essential that we do this. Otherwise the company has no chance of survival." ON VULNERABLE CLIENTS

"We have now presented our proposals to the government on how to use more than 120 billion roubles in state loan guarantees and part of the guarantees have already been granted."

"The situation at AvtoVAZ (AVAZ.MM) has not been reviewed at the (government anti-crisis commission), but we think that the company should be included in the list (of guarantee recipients). We can talk about the sum when AvtoVAZ presents a recovery plan, which we don't have yet."

"We asked the government to refinance PIK...and a big thank you to the government for taking risks onto VEB and refinancing the debt. And now we are going to the government to ask for guarantees for developers, for PIK and for SU-155 and for others so we can keep financing them."

"Our interest here is huge because we have an enormous portfolio of developers and we can rehabilitate this portfolio only under one condition: if developers stay alive."

NON-CORE ASSETS

"We can't even value the portfolio of security we are acquiring. I think that an estimate may be possible in the middle of next year."

RESTRUCTURING

"The process of restructuring bad debt is not over. It is still in the development stage and we are not past the peak. Most banks' bad debt is just being put off to the future and you can't call that restructuring."

"Next year will be the peak year when we will be going through the rubble."

"At a minimum, we'll need all of next year. That is fair to Sberbank."

PROVISIONS, FINANCIALS

"Our provisions by the end of the year will be more than 10 percent. We have created them out of our own profits. By the end of the year we will make new provisions of at least 350 billion roubles."

"It's the law of the crisis: The margin rises because the bank responds to rising risks in the economy. But risks come to fruition and eat up the margin through provisioning. On net profit, Sberbank's will rise (next year) and return on capital will increase, but margins will fall."

"The cushion of reserves is not large enough yet. I am afraid we have to maintain the pace of provisioning this year. Next year we estimate the pace of provisioning will halve."

"I think this year we'll make most of the provisions for problem assets. From the point of view of our results, it will be the peak (worst) year for us. Next year we will feel more sure of ourselves from the financial point of view."

"But from the operational point of view, it will go on for all of next year, from the point of view of lawsuits and rehabilitation of assets."

FOREIGN SHARE LISTING

"The (Russian market watchdog) FSFR's mechanism needs to be approved. Everything depends on the time frame for carrying out this so called "zero balance" option. We hope the mechanism will be approved by the end of the year and then we can next year make a specific and prepare for a potential listing."

"If we need capital, we won't ask the government for it, I hope, and will just sell stock on the market, including through a GDR."

EMPLOYEE STOCK OPTIONS

"We have small-scale monthly bonuses, quarterly and annual bonuses. The horizon is a year and the risks taken by the bank don't end on a one-year horizon."

"It is essential to have a programme that ties management to the bank. You start work today, but you can only sell your stock options in three years. If you leave before that, you lose them."

"We are going for a programme which is low cost for the bank. We are not talking crazy money here."

"It is a very public mechanism taken from the most cutting edge global experience. For now we have not convinced the central bank of the need for stock options. We are discussing it."

PRIVATISATION

"The state share in Sberbank should fall strategically but I am not prepared to say when it should do it. I am not going to throw deadlines around."

SBERBANK'S ASPIRATIONS

"We are already in the top 50 in terms of capitalisation and assets. We view our aim for the top 10 and scale of our market and the scale of our bank to aim for this, although it's going to be more difficult now that Chinese banks have broken into the top 10."

"It's an incredibly difficult task but if Russia has a chance to see one of its banks in the top 10, it is our chance."

"If we talk about our near terms plans, it's the CIS market. Obviously there is only one potential buyer on the market and that is us. Sberbank is doing this work and does not exclude the possibility."

POSSIBLE ACQUISITION OF BTA

"There is no critical mass for the deal yet. The most important factor is the completion of the restructuring. As soon as the restructuring deal is signed it will be the starting point for our talks to fulfill our interests in the bank." (Reporting by Darya Korsunskaya and Dmitry Sergeyev; Editing by Hans Peters)