EVENT POSTPONEMENTS DUE TO COVID-19

Due to the Covid-19 outbreak, the following conferences with whose organisers EmergingMarkets.me has media partnership agreements have been postponed: The Digital Banking Summit organised by ICSA has been rescheduled for August 17-18 and will take place in Accra, Ghana. It was originally planned to be held on April 6-7 in Lagos. Blockchain Life, initially scheduled… Continue Reading

Russia close to financial crisis – Russian credit agency

By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia has come close to a financial crisis, Gazeta.ru and other Russian media cited Russian credit rating agency ACRA as warning. The recent collapse of OPEC-Russia talks with global oil prices plunging, the rouble dropping and the Russian stock market plummeting, and the havoc played with the world economy by the coronavirus… Continue Reading

EVENTS: APAC wealth management forum to look into emerging market opportunities, family office modernisation

The Private Wealth Management Asia Pacific Summit in Kuala Lumpur on June 3-5, an invitation-only conference organised by the marcus evans company, will have an extensive agenda, including suggested ways to find hidden opportunities in low-key asset classes and emerging markets and to capitalise on asset bubbles. The forum was originally planned to take place… Continue Reading

EVENTS: Private Wealth Management Summit, Boston, March 11-13

Risk and volatility in emerging markets and tax-efficient investing will be among key topics at the Private Wealth Management Summit in Boston, Massachusetts, on March 11-13, an invitation-only conference organised by corporate marketing company marcus evans. Other subjects to be raised are cybersecurity in the family office, the role of blockchain and ways to react… Continue Reading

Standard Chartered: profits up 8 per cent year-on-year but headwinds to affect 2020 performance

By Andrei Skvarsky. Banking group Standard Chartered has reported an underlying profit increase of 8 per cent for 2019 but predicted possible worse performance than expected for this year because of macroeconomic factors and the coronavirus outbreak. Standard Chartered’s earnings per share grew by 23 per cent in 2019, the London-headquartered lender, which is present… Continue Reading

Da Vinci obtains investment pledge for new fund from German development agency

By Andrei Skvarsky. Da Vinci Capital, an emerging markets private equity fund manager, has launched its third successive fund, Da Vinci Emerging Technologies Fund III, with German state-owned development finance institution DEG having pledged to be an anchor investor in it. DEG (Deutsche Investitions- und Entwicklungsgesellschaft) made a pledge in December 2019 to invest more… Continue Reading

Sberbank reports three senior appointments, one stepdown

By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, has made two hires to run its business in the health sector, appointed one of its staff members as head of government relations (GR), and is parting company with the head of an investment subsidiary. Both newcomers come from the Russian government. Olga Golodets, a former deputy prime… Continue Reading

RenCap: Russia entering time of ‘strong’, stable growth

By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital argues that Russia is entering a time of “strong” and stable economic growth and has become a country with splendid investment opportunities. “We expect growth in Russia to more than double to 2.6% YoY in 2020”, which “could surprise the markets”, RenCap economist Sofya Donets has said… Continue Reading

EVENTS: Moscow to host Blockchain Life 2020, key blockchain and crypto forum

On April 22-23 Moscow is going to host Blockchain Life 2020, an event in the Blockchain Life series – annual flagship international conferences on blockchain and cryptocurrencies. Blockchain Life 2020 is expected to bring together about 5,000 participants from about 70 countries, among them investors, cryptocurrency miners, blockchain developers, startup founders and government figures. The… Continue Reading

EVENTS: ESG no burden but source of more money – Jan 29 webinar

“Taking ESG Mainstream – Unlocking Financial Materiality”, a planned webinar at 1030-1130 GMT on January 29 to be hosted by Reuters Events, will focus on key points of environmental, social and government (ESG) criteria in investment decision-making. Please register for the webinar here. This interactive webinar is made in conjunction with ESG Investment Europe, a… Continue Reading

EVENTS: ESG Investment Europe 2020, London, May 27-28

Environmental, social and governance (ESG) criteria are ceasing to be optional factors in investment decision-making, but data shortages are a big problem, and ESG Investment Europe 2020, a conference in London on May 27-28, will try to help solve it by putting the data issue at the front. The forum is expected to have an… Continue Reading

EVENTS: Investment Education Symposium, New Orleans, Louisiana, February 19-21

Pension system executives, financiers, actuaries, lawyers and others will talk about investing, fiduciary responsibility and the selection of money managers at the Investment Education Symposium in New Orleans, Louisiana, on February 19-21, 2020. Institutional investors such as pension funds, endowments and foundations are the main target audience of the event, co-organised by New York-based company… Continue Reading

Public Funds Summit in Arizona to focus on pensions

The Public Funds Summit in Scottsdale, Arizona, on January 6-8 will address a range of public sector issues, including investment and ethics regulations, and will focus on public pension funds. Although the conference, organised by New York-based Opal Group, will be a public sector event, attendance will not be limited to public sector figures. The… Continue Reading

Russia’s Sberbank carries through senior staff moves

By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank has parted company with Andrei Sharov, its head of government relations, moved head of marketing Vladislav (Vlad) Kreinin to the position of chief growth officer in the unit overseeing the bank’s ecosystem, and promoted senior executive Natalya Dudina to the role of head of human resources. Sberbank has credited Sharov with… Continue Reading

Sberbank, 500 Startups finish second joint accelerator for Russian firms

By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank and San Francisco-based venture capital firm 500 Startups have finished the second seed accelerator in a joint programme for Russian technology start-ups. Sberbank invests in companies that take part in the programme. It pledged to put 6m roubles ($97,000) into each of 14 start-ups that were involved in… Continue Reading