Islamic Development Bank pledges $100m in aid to Yemen

By Andrei Skvarsky. The Islamic Development Bank Group (IDB) has pledged $100m as part of a global relief effort for Yemen to help it deal with a crisis caused by a five-year civil war and thwart the spread of Covid-19, which spells disaster for a country where half the population has no access to clean… Continue Reading

Islamic financial body ITFC tries to help Senegal ride out Covid crisis

By Andrei Skvarsky. The International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) has provided a murabaha (Sharia-compliant) loan of 8m euros ($9m) to the Islamic Bank of Senegal to support operations within the African country’s private sector, traumatised by the Covid-19 pandemic. The money is planned to advance trade between Senegal, which is a predominantly Muslim country,… Continue Reading

EVENTS: Reuters Events-hosted webinar to discuss health-related aspects of investment

With the link between health and investment being unprecedentedly close because of Covid-19, a Reuters Events-hosted webinar on May 27 will focus on investment during the pandemic and on what post-Covid-19 recovery would look like for investors. The webinar, “Roundtable: An Investor’s Perspective on Global Health”, will take place at 16:00-17:00 GMT (15:00-16:00 BST or… Continue Reading

Law firm Centurion launches service to help investors navigate in post-Covid Africa

By Andrei Skvarsky. Pan-African law and advisory conglomerate Centurion said it has launched a full-suite tax and investment advisory service to help investors find their way around Africa’s private sector during its recovery from woes inflicted on it by Covid-19. The service, to be managed by the Johannesburg-headquartered firm’s Centurion Plus unit, will enable businesses… Continue Reading

EVENTS: August’s MoneyNext Summit Online to mirror subsequent namesake forum on money’s future

More than 180 senior figures in banks, insurance companies and other firms are going to speak during MoneyNext Summit Online, a virtual conference on August 18-21 on the future of money that will mirror the planned physical MoneyNext Summit in London on October 20-21. Banking transformation, payments and transfers, blockchain, open banking, insurtech, lending finance,… Continue Reading

EVENTS: 4-session webinar to precede Reuters Events-organised Energy Transition Summit

Reuters Events is going to host a four-session interview-format webinar in the run-up to the Energy Transition Summit in London on November 23-24, a planned Reuters Events-organised conference to discuss new challenges to face energy companies over the next two decades. You can register for the “Energy Transition: In Conversation” webinar here. Each session will… Continue Reading

RenCap study: oil sells at half of what it costs to produce

Today’s global price of oil is equivalent to about half the money spent on its production by the supermajors, the world’s largest oil and gas companies, according to a study by investment bank Renaissance Capital. The current average price for Brent, West Texas Intermediate (WTI) and the OPEC basket of 13 crudes is just under… Continue Reading

Permira Debt Managers prices new CLO at $225.5m

By Andrei Skvarsky. London-based debt investors Permira Debt Managers (PDM) has set the price for the Providus IV collateralised loan obligation, the fourth CLO in its Providus series, at 207.6m euros ($225.5m). Just as the previous Providus CLOs, Providus IV has environmental, social and governance (ESG) standards among its eligibility criteria, which puts restrictions on… Continue Reading

Sberbank PR chief Anna Kozlovskaya quitting

By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank has announced that Anna Kozlovskaya, its head of public relations, is leaving Russia’s biggest lender seven months after joining it. Kozlovskaya, who came to Sberbank in October 2019 from Mastercard, has overseen the bank’s press service and the communications and media relations of its ecosystem, which consists of more than 40… Continue Reading

EVENTS: Reuters Events webinar on April 28 to look at ESG firms’ role in dealing with Covid-19 impacts on emerging markets

Reuters Events is due to run a free interactive webinar on April 28 to look into how companies following environmental, social and governance (ESG) investment criteria can help emerging markets to survive the havoc wrought by Covid-19 and to cope with climate change effects in this situation. The one-hour webinar, ‘ESG in Emerging Markets: How… Continue Reading

Renaissance Capital makes five hires for distribution team

By Andrei Skvarsky. Renaissance Capital, an investment bank with operations in emerging and frontier markets across the globe, has made five hires for its distribution team to fill roles such as oversight of structured products and the high-net-worth individual (HNWI) clientele. RenCap quoted one of its senior managers as saying that, despite the Covid-19 pandemic,… Continue Reading

Tranio: Most property purchases abroad by Russians, CIS nationals are commercial investments

By Andrei Skvarsky. The returns of a 2018/2019 survey by Moscow-headquartered real estate broker Tranio suggest that commercial investment was the purpose of the majority of those years’ property purchases abroad by nationals of Russia and Russian speakers living elsewhere in the Commonwealth of Independent States. About 70 per cent of real estate purchases by… Continue Reading

Sberbank hires Viktor Shkipin, ex-manager at Alfa-Bank, VTB to run marketing, communications

By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, has hired Viktor Shkipin, a former head of marketing at Russian lenders Alfa-Bank and VTB, as senior vice-president and head of marketing and communications. Shkipin’s duties will include oversight of Sberbank group companies specialising in advertising and media projects in addition to managing marketing and communications at the… Continue Reading

EVENTS: Venture capital, blockchain, cryptos, classic investment to be discussed during free 4-day Global Investors Online Summit in May

More than 50 experts are going to talk on a range of investment issues during the Global Investors Online Summit, a free online conference on May 21-24 organised by DAO.digital, a California-based autonomous organisation of investors. There will be a separate theme for each day of the conference – Venture Capital for Day 1, Blockchain… Continue Reading

Russia’s Sberbank parting company with marketing chief Marina Zhigalova-Ozkan

By Andrei Skvarsky. Marina Zhigalova-Ozkan, senior vice-president of Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank and head of its marketing and communications department, is leaving the bank nine months after joining it. “In these difficult times I’ve made up my mind to focus on developing my own business,” a Sberbank statement quoted Zhigalova-Ozkan as saying. Zhigalova-Ozkan has overseen… Continue Reading