EVENT UPDATE: Commodities Trading USA, June 7-8

Energy transition, cutting-edge technologies and financing issues are among a variety of points to be discussed at Commodities Trading USA 2022, a planned conference in Houston, Texas, on June 7-8 organised by Reuters Events. Four themes will be in the focus of this in-person forum: – impacts of energy transition; – digitalisation of trading, including… Continue Reading

ActivTrades: Struggle between two factors to keep gold price stable

London-based brokerage ActivTrades forecasts that the price of gold, which stayed flat on March 15, will remain stable for the foreseeable period as it is the result of a current tug-of-war between two factors that are almost equally powerful – a U.S. inflation control policy and geopolitical risks stirred by the ongoing war in Ukraine.… Continue Reading

EVENTS: Three events to be hosted by Opal in Florida town on March 27-29

Conference organiser Opal Group is going to host three in-person annual financial events in Palm Beach, a town in Florida, on March 27-29. They are: ESG & Impact Investing Forum, a conference to look at opportunities in various asset classes for investment aiming to produce environmental, social and governance impacts alongside yielding substantial returns; Opal… Continue Reading

Deutsche Boerse joins forces with AirCarbon Exchange in emissions quotas trade

By Andrei Skvarsky. Deutsche Boerse (DB1) has made an investment in AirCarbon Exchange (ACX) in what is expected to result in synergic collaboration between Singapore-based ACX and DB1 subsidiary European Energy Exchange (EEX) in selling carbon credits, greenhouse gas emission quotas. ACX, a carbon allowances trading specialist, did not disclose the exact sum received from… Continue Reading

Reuters Events, Tradecloud: Understanding energy transition crucial to commodities trading

A business strategy geared to energy transition requirements is crucial to successful trading in commodities today, according to a report released by Reuters Events, organisers of Commodities Trading USA 2022, a planned conference in June. “Commodities Trading 2022. Market Insight Report”, written by Reuters Events in partnership with supply chain platform Tradecloud, says the energy… Continue Reading

Euronext Dublin registers 5-year $5bn Eurobond programme to be launched by Russia’s Sovcombank

By Andrei Skvarsky. Euronext Dublin (the Irish Stock Exchange) has registered a five-year framework $5bn Eurobond programme to be launched by Sovcombank, one of Russia’s top ten lenders. Multinational investment banks J.P. Morgan and Renaissance Capital are acting as co-arrangers of the programme while Bank of New York Mellon is the trustee and principal paying… Continue Reading

Russia to give cryptocurrencies full legitimacy, scraps ban proposal

By Andrei Skvarsky. The Russian government has announced a plan to grant full-scale legality to cryptocurrencies as the central bank has obviously ditched a proposal for what, to all intents and purposes, would have been a blanket ban on digital money. Today cryptocurrencies have an ambiguous legal status in Russia. While it is allowed to… Continue Reading

Russia’s Sberbank announces restructuring, staff moves

By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, on February 15 announced plans for structural changes and for a consequent senior staff reshuffle. The changes are due to be completed by June 1, 2022, according to a statement from the bank. Sberbank’s key non-banking business, e-commerce, would be overseen by a holding company to be set… Continue Reading

EVENTS: Commodities Trading USA 2022, Houston, June 7-8

Oil majors BP, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Chevron and Eni and banking giants Goldman Sachs and BNP Paribas will be among participants in Commodities Trading USA 2022, an in-person conference in Houston on June 7-8 organised by Reuters Events. The forum will take an overview of global commodities trade and focus on key present-day features of global… Continue Reading

EVENTS: Investment Education Symposium, New Orleans, Feb 23-25

Investment communities in various countries are resuming post-lockdown in-person events, and the planned Investment Education Symposium 2022 in New Orleans on February 23-25 is one of them. The conference will address aspects of both traditional and alternative investment, fiduciary responsibility and selection of money managers for U.S. pension funds, endowments, foundations and other institutional investors. Investment… Continue Reading

Tinkoff, Finam Russia’s top investment brokers – Financer survey

By Andrei Skvarsky. A survey by Financer, multinational specialists in comparing financial services and products, suggests that Tinkoff Investments and Finam are Russia’s best-performing investment brokerages. Tinkoff Investments, a unit of Tinkoff Bank, offers a quick and simple account opening procedure, a large choice of instruments for investment and a convenient mobile app, according to… Continue Reading

ETF tops list of finance abbreviations Americans seek to know more about – study

By Andrei Skvarsky. Among hundreds of financial abbreviations that the average American cannot but wants to understand, ETF (“exchange-traded fund”) is the target of the largest annual number of online searches, according to British price comparison online company money.co.uk. There are on average 114,160 online searches per year in the United States, a nation of… Continue Reading

RenCap: Russian economy too resilient to be crippled by U.S. sanctions

By Andrei Skvarsky. An analysis by investment bank Renaissance Capital suggests that the Russian economy’s degree of resilience practically rules out it being sent haywire by Ukraine-related sanctions the White House has on the table and that harsher sanctions might have exorbitant international costs for the United States. Sanctions formulated in a bill put before… Continue Reading

Russia’s Sberbank confirms Ekaterina Latypova as head of agile

By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, has definitively appointed vice-president Ekaterina Latypova as head of agile transformation, a position she has held provisionally since August 2021, and has raised her status to senior vice-president. Latypova joined Sberbank in 2015 as vice-president and head of strategy and development. Since then the bank has approved three… Continue Reading

Russia’s Matrix Capital says its VC fund a prosperous business

By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian investment boutique Matrix Capital has announced it set up a prosperous venture capital fund in 2021 in seeking an antidote to dwindling yields from bonds and other usual financial instruments. Matrix has about a dozen startups in the fund’s portfolio, some of them American, some European, some Israeli, and some from… Continue Reading

New inflation wave to hit Russia soon – head of Matrix Capital

By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia is most likely in for a surge in inflation this or next month, according to the head of Moscow-based investment banking boutique Matrix Capital. Pavel Teplukhin, general partner at Matrix, largely based his forecast on the role of inflationary psychology, an attitude that makes consumers buy more goods than usual in… Continue Reading

Debex delinquent debts auction house establishes pan-Asia presence

By Andrei Skvarsky. Debex, a Moscow-based multinational company running online auctions for delinquent debts, sold a debt portfolio of about $70m in the Philippines in September in a prelude to the formal launch of the firm’s pan-Asia subsidiary, Debex.Asia, on November 24. Debex.Asia, which is headquartered in Manila, Philippines, and has an offfice in Ho… Continue Reading

Russia’s Aton launches crypto market index & analysis report

By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian investment company Aton announced on November 11 that it has launched a daily value index of five key cryptocurrencies and a weekly analytical cryptocurrency and blockchain report. The Aton Crypto Index (ATONCRPT), which is a joint product of Aton and S&P, covers Bitcoin, Ethereum, Binance Coin, Cardano and Ripple, an Aton… Continue Reading

Russia’s Mercury retailer puts off IPO over ‘market conditions’

By Andrei Skvarsky. Mercury Retail, Russia’s third-largest food retailer, announced on November 9 that it had postponed a planned initial public offering due to “current market conditions”. Mercury did not say when the IPO would be held. The IPO, first announced on October 27, was to take place on Moscow Exchange and was expected to… Continue Reading

Russian retailer Mercury hopes to raise up to $1.3bn via IPO

By Andrei Skvarsky. Mercury Retail, Russia’s third-largest food retailer, expects to raise between $1.2bn and $1.3bn via a planned initial public offering. BofA Securities, J.P. Morgan, Sberbank, VTB, Gazprombank and Renaissance Capital are organising the float, to take place on Moscow Exchange and involve offering up to 200m global depositary receipts (GDRs) each of which… Continue Reading

EVENTS: Three conferences not to be missed this month

European CLO Summit 2021, London, November 8. An in-person educational conference on collateralised loan obligation issues for investors, issuers, underwriters, rating agencies, lawyers and accountants. It will take place at the London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square. Extensive sanitary precautions are promised by the organisers, New York-headquartered Opal Group. Commodities Trading 2021, November 9-10. An online… Continue Reading

Rouble best-faring of EM currencies but Russian economy may hit the rocks ‘any moment’ – Matrix Capital

By Andrei Skvarsky. The Russian rouble has been the best-performing of emerging market currencies in 2021 and is likely to get stronger in the near term but Russia’s economy as a whole is an unpredictable state and may run into trouble “any moment”, according to Moscow’s asset management boutique Matrix Capital. Inflation is likely to… Continue Reading

World ESG-focused investments likely to get above $53 tln mark by 2025 – Matrix Capital

By Andrei Skvarsky. Global investments compliant with environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles may exceed $53 trillion by 2025, making up about one-third of the world’s total assets under management, said the head of Moscow-based asset management boutique Matrix Capital. ESG-compliant debt markets may show an even more impressive growth with the total value of… Continue Reading