By Andrei Skvarsky. Wermuth Asset Management, a German fund manager chiefly operating from Moscow, has parted company with its chief executive Maarten van den Belt, three months after another top figure in the relatively small company quit the firm. Van den Belt, whom Wermuth hired as its CEO in July 2010, has been replaced by Michael… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Hires & Fires
RusRating founder and CEO Richard Hainsworth steps aside
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian rating agency RusRating has put aside its founder and chief executive Richard Hainsworth by appointing him as company president and passing over his top managerial duties to Dmitri Yefimov from Russian business news agency AK&M. The appointment of Yefimov, who takes up the job today, “was motivated by the… Continue Reading
Sberbank to axe 30,000 jobs
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, plans to sack 30,000 employees or 12.5% of its personnel, thereby following other banks in Russia and worldwide in cutting jobs as the euro debt crisis deepens. Sberbank chief executive German Gref told Prime Minister Vladimir Putin that the reason why the firm would slash its numbers to… Continue Reading
EXCLUSIVE: Otkritie hires Hyerdale’s D’Angelo to run American sales
By Andrei Skvarsky. Otkritie has hired Patrick D’Angelo from U.S. hedge fund Hyerdale Capital as director of equity sales and trading at the New York office of the Russian investment bank. D’Angelo’s new role means involvement in Otkritie’s planned expansion in the United States, Canada and South America, Luis Saenz, chief executive of… Continue Reading
Troika hires Standard Bank’s Leith as heir apparent
By Andrei Skvarsky. Troika Dialog has hired Rob Leith from South Africa’s Standard Bank, which used to own a big slice of the Russian brokerage, as global head of investment banking and head of global markets. Leith is taking up what is a newly created role with responsibility for both business areas. He will partially… Continue Reading
INTERVIEW: Raiffeisen staying the course in Russia
By Andrei Skvarsky. Raiffeisen has no plans to follow its European counterparts by retreating from or retrenching in Russia, the Austrian lender’s top spokesman, Michael Palzer, tells EmergingMarkets.me. AS: Russia’s Sberbank is said to be eyeing the Russian assets of crisis-hit European banks, hoping to buy them cheaply. Has it offered to buy your Russian subsidiary?… Continue Reading
Russia’s Arbat Capital hires ex-Aton trader for hedge fund project
By Andrei Skvarsky. Arbat Capital, a Russian investment management firm, has hired Igor Azarov, a former trader at Aton, for a position that includes a senior trading role in a new hedge fund. Yulia Bushueva, manager of the New Kremlin Fund, confirmed to EmergingMarkets.me that the equity hedging facility would be the key project of… Continue Reading
VTB inhales one of Europe’s main cigarette makers
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s VTB Capital has completed the acquisition of Bulgartabac, one of Europe’s leading cigarette manufacturers. The investment banking arm of state-owned VTB Group, Russia’s second biggest lender, said in a statement it had paid 100.1m euros ($136.8m) for its 79.83% stake in the Sofia-based company. The terms of the deal include commitments… Continue Reading
Ernst & Young hires Deutsche Boerse’s Steinbach to run IPOs
By Andrei Skvarsky. Ernst & Young has hired Martin Steinbach, a former senior figure at Deutsche Boerse, to run its initial public offerings and listings centre for Europe, the Middle East, India and Africa. Steinbach spent nearly a decade as head of issuer and investor markets at Deutsche Boerse, the stock exchange based in Frankfurt-am-Main,… Continue Reading
VTB includes regional chief in top brass
By Andrei Skvarsky. VTB Group has given an additional role to Denis Bortnikov, head of the state-owned bank’s division for northwesternRussia, by appointing him as a member of the group’s top executive panel. Bortnikov, whose appointment is subject to Central Bank approval, started his career in 1996 at Industry and Construction Bank, which was later… Continue Reading
Alfa Bank promotes Petr Smida to board chairman
By Andrei Skvarsky. Alfa Bank has promoted Petr Smida, one of its top executives, to the role of board chairman, a job he already held at the firm for several months in 2008. Smida, who held US- and Czech-based positions at banking arms of General Electric before joining Alfa, was the Russian bank’s chief executive for a while. The… Continue Reading
Allianz’s Russian fund manager parts company with CEO
By Andrei Skvarsky. Allianz’s fund management joint venture in Moscow has parted company with its CEO Oleg Mazurov. Allianz ROSNO Asset Management runs eight mutual funds. The assets entrusted to the Munich-based global insurer’s Russian venture have swelled to 25.29bn rubles ($830m) since Mazurov became its CEO five years ago, according to a statement by… Continue Reading
Troika Dialog hires Deutsche’s Gordeyeva as senior analyst
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian brokerage Troika Dialog has hired Julia Gordeyeva from Deutsche Bank as a senior real estate analyst. Before joining Deutsche as a senior analyst, Gordeyeva held a similar Moscow-based role at Dutch bank ING, and earlier on worked in the United States for JP Morgan Fleming Investment Management. Gordeyeva takes up her job today,… Continue Reading
Troika Dialog hires Citi’s Walker in preparing for Sberbank era
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian broker Troika Dialog has hired David Walker from Citigroup as a managing director in its investment banking division. Walker’s appointment is the latest in a recent series of senior recruitments made by Troika, which has been acquired by Sberbank in the latter’s efforts to move into investment banking. Walker, who took… Continue Reading
Otkritie plans 10% personnel cuts
By Andrei Skvarsky. Otkritie has decided to cut its personnel by 10%, following other Russian banks that have embarked on redundancy schemes. About 700 people would let go in a redundancy wave that would roll through all divisions of Otkritie and is expected to enable the Moscow-based firm to reduce its spending by between 15%… Continue Reading
Merrill Lynch promises “strategic hires” in Russia
By Andrei Skvarsky. Bank of America Merrill Lynch has announced it “is strengthening its infrastructure” in Russia and is going to make “strategic hires”. Moving to new offices in central Moscow is part of BAML’s expansion in Russia, according to a statement by the bank, which recently dismissed one of its top Moscow-based… Continue Reading
EXCLUSIVE: Dutch bank ING goes on Russian hiring spree
By Andrei Skvarsky. Dutch bank ING has made a series of hires for its investment banking team in Russia over the past few months in bouncing back after being forced by the global financial crisis to scale down its presence in the country. Igor Goncharov, Tatiana Prokina and Anna Kochkina were taken on… Continue Reading
VTB Capital hires Goldman banker to run global flow sales
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s VTB Capital has hired Philip Hamilton from Goldman Sachs as global head of flow sales. Hamilton joined former colleague Atanas Bostanjiev, who left Goldman recently to spearhead VTB Capital’s international expansion. Hamilton will be based in London and run trading and sales operations for foreign exchange, credit, loans and rates, according… Continue Reading
Merrill Lynch dismisses Russian managing director Babayan
By Andrei Skvarsky. Bank of America Merrill Lynch has dismissed Sergey Babayan as managing director of its Russian subsidiary and co-head of the Moscow-based global markets team. Babayan, who formerly held senior jobs at Deutsche Bank, Troika Dialog and ABN AMRO, was the only non-technical employee at Moscow’s Merrill Lynch Securities to be cut… Continue Reading
Gazprombank hires S&P's Trofimova for investor relations role
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s Gazprombank has hired Ekaterina Trofimova, a former Standard & Poor’s senior analyst, as head of investor and client relations. Trofimova, who was a Paris-based banking analyst for Russia and former Soviet states at Standard & Poor’s, has been given the position of first vice president at Gazprombank, according to a statement… Continue Reading
East Capital Explorer names Mia Jurke as CEO
Swedish investment company East Capital Explorer has appointed Mia Jurke as its new chief executive. Jurke joins East Capital Explorer to replace Gert Tiivas who joins the Swedish firms private equity business in the Baltic countries. Peter Elam Håkansson, chairman of East Capital, said: “East Capital is the investment manager of East Capital Explorer. The… Continue Reading
Danish bank Saxo opens shop in Moscow as others retrench
By Marcus Williams. Danish investment Saxo Bank is opening a new representative office in Moscow just as existing players are cutting staff in the Russian capital. Saxo, an online trading and investment specialist, said the opening is a strategic move “to strengthen and expand its position as a leading provider of online trading and investment… Continue Reading
EXCLUSIVE: Troika close to naming successor to Der Megreditchian
By Andrei Skvarsky. Troika Dialog is close to naming a replacement for Jacques Der Megreditchian, who quit as the Russian brokerage’s head of global markets last Friday, Troika insiders said. Der Megreditchian’s duties have provisionally been distributed between Alexei Zaitsev, Timur Nasardinov and Konstantin Tserazov, who were deputies to the former senior manager. Troika’s chairman… Continue Reading
BNP Paribas names Moiron country head for Russia
By Marcus Wiliams. French banking giant BNP Paribas has appointed Jean-Yves Moiron its Moscow-based country head for Russia and Belarus. Francois Regnier will replace Moiron as the country head next spring, the Paris-based bank said in the statement. The lender announced in September that it has no plans to further develop its customer base and… Continue Reading
Renaissance hires Credit Suisse's Berent to run wealth unit
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s Renaissance Group has hired Leo Berent from Credit Suisse to lead a team providing services for ultra-high net worth individuals. Berent has been appointed as deputy head of Renaissance Advisors, the group’s division focusing on private financial and advisory services in Russia, the CIS, Africa and other geographies, Renaissance said in… Continue Reading
Renaissance parts company with two senior managers
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s Renaissance Group has parted company with Ashar Qureshi, head of its fund management business, and Yury Gruzglin, global head of fixed income, currencies and commodities. Qureshi combined his role as chief executive of Renaissance Asset Management with the position of vice chairman of Renaissance Group. Qureshi joined the group in February… Continue Reading
Raiffeisen names replacement for Russia head Pavel Gurin
By Ivan Anderzhanov. Austria’s Raiffeisen has named Sergey Monin as head of its Russian operation to replace Pavel Gurin who passed away last month after a long and brave fight with cancer. Monin, up to now the deputy chairman of Raiffeisenbank’s managing board, has been acting chairman for several months. Moscow-born Monin joined Raiffeisenbank in… Continue Reading
Merrill Lynch promises “strategic hires” in Russia
By Andrei Skvarsky. Bank of America Merrill Lynch has announced it “is strengthening its infrastructure” in Russia and is going to make “strategic hires”. Moving to new offices in central Moscow is part of BAML’s expansion in Russia, according to a statement by the bank, which recently dismissed one of its top Moscow-based managers, Sergey… Continue Reading
Aton hands senior DMA sales role to UniCredit's Somov
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian investment firm Aton has hired Evgeny Somov from UniCredit Securities for a senior job in direct market access sales. A member of Aton’s DMA sales staff confirmed Somov’s appointment to EmergingMarkets.me. Somov’s career has included stints with Finam, Renaissance Capital and Deutsche Bank. Continue Reading