Brand Finance carried its annual rating of the world’s 500 largest banking brands for the year 2010 recently. The rating was compiled in cooperation with The Banker and featured eight Russian banks, whereas a year earlier, there were actually nine Russia-based banks on the list, Kommersant reports.

These Russian banks’ total value rose by $514m compared with the year 2009 and reached $15.9bn. Sberbank, one of the Top20 banks in 2009, was given the 15th position back then but only the 19th position in 2010. On the other hand, its brand value exceeded $12bn, which was 6.5% better than a year earlier. Yet throughout the year 2009, Sberbank’s brand value rocketed by 160%. Brand Finance analysts explain the drop in Russia’s largest bank’s value may have to do with the uncertainty of Russia’s economy on the whole.

VTB slid from the 83d position in 2009 down to the 93d position in 2010 (against the 76th position in 2008). Its brand value decreased by 1.8%, down to $1.79bn.