By Andrei Skvarsky. Peer-to-peer bitcoin exchange Paxful reiterated this month that its African business is booming and was still upbeat about the use of cryptocurrencies in Africa in general, arguing that 2020 will be a “landmark year for the African crypto and blockchain industry”. In tune with a statement it issued in autumn 2019, Paxful… 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
EVENTS: Scores to take the floor at Opal’s Family Office Winter Forum in NYC
Scores of speakers, among them prominent Wall Street figures, will address an audience of more than 500 at the Family Office Winter Forum in New York City on March 3 organised by Opal Group. The topics will include a global macroeconomic and geopolitical outlook, family governance, impact investing, and key challenges in seeking to preserve… 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
Da Vinci Capital passes control of Global Fintech Solutions to Prytek
By Andrei Skvarsky. Guernsey-based private equity company Da Vinci Capital has sold a majority stake in software developer Global Fintech Solutions (GFS) to the Prytek investment firm in what has been described as “one of the fastest exits” in Da Vinci’s history. According to a joint statement from Da Vinci and Prytek, the sale makes… Continue Reading
Angola to privatise oil firm stake, advertise other foreign investment opportunities
By Andrei Skvarsky. Angola has decided to partially privatise its state oil and gas company Sonangol as part of a campaign to attract foreign direct investment (FDI) that includes plans for a global roadshow and a large-scale conference at home. Up to 30 per cent of Sonangol is planned to be sold off by 2022,… Continue Reading
EVENTS: MoneyNext Summit, London forum in July on finance world digitisation
MoneyNext Summit, a conference to be held in London on July 1-2, 2020, will focus on the digitisation of the financial world, delving into the future of payments, banking, blockchain, insurance and regulation. The wide range of issues to be raised at the forum include digital solutions to risk management, ethical considerations in the use… 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
RenCap to host 2nd annual event to stimulate capital flow into N. Africa
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital is due to host its second annual conference on January 22-23 to drum up institutional investment into economies in North Africa, a region RenCap is very optimistic about, being particularly upbeat about Morocco and Egypt. The venue of the 2nd Annual North Africa Investor Conference is Marrakech,… Continue Reading
Guernsey Finance looking for CEO as Dominic Wheatley planning to quit
Guernsey Finance, a company acting as a promotional agency for Guernsey’s finance industry, is looking for candidates for the position of chief executive as incumbent Dominic Wheatley is quitting at the end of June 2020. The application deadline is 5pm on January 24. Applicants should submit a CV and covering letter to Guernsey Finance chairman… 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
Francois Du Toit rejoins RenCap as insurance, real estate analyst in Africa team
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital has re-hired its ex-analyst Francois Du Toit, appointing him as an insurance and real estate analyst in its Africa team. Du Toit will be based in Cape Town and cover insurance stocks across RenCap’s African markets and real estate stocks in South Africa, the bank, which focuses… Continue Reading
Sberbank replaces CEO of subsidiary running cloud platform for ecosystem
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank has appointed one of its senior managers, Yevgeny Kolbin, as CEO of SberCloud, a subsidiary running a cloud platform for the ecosystem of Russia’s biggest lender. In his new role, Kolbin, who until now has headed Sberbank’s Digital Corporate Bank division, replaces Mikhail Lobotsky, who will stay on in SberCloud as… 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
RenCap hires Grigory Sedov as global head of private clients
By Andrei Skvarsky. Investment bank Renaissance Capital has hired Grigory Sedov as global head of private clients. As his previous role, Sedov was partner and deputy CEO of Russian investment firm Aton, which focuses on services for wealthy individuals. Sedov will be in charge of expanding RenCap’s range of services for private clients across the… Continue Reading
Silicon Valley’s Fort Ross invests in Kryon to promote business automation in Russia
By Andrei Skvarsky. Silicon Valley-based Russia-focused company Fort Ross Ventures has made an investment in multinational technology firm Kryon that is expected to boost the use of its automation solutions by Russian businesses. Kryon has developed a platform that comprises process discovery and robotic process automation (RPA) tools. The platform is used by companies including… Continue Reading
CORRECTION- Renaissance Capital makes senior hire for Nigeria investment banking team
(Correcting the job description of the newcomer, who is not head of the investment banking service). By Andrei Skvarsky. Moscow-based investment bank Renaissance Capital has hired Oladipupo Adekanmbi, previously an adviser at Nigeria’s FBNQuest Merchant Bank, as vice-president, investment banking, Nigeria. A statement from RenCap, a bank focusing on emerging and frontier markets across the… Continue Reading
Sberbank’s Kazakhstan subsidiary to replace CEO
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank JSC, the Kazakh subsidiary of Russia’s largest lender Sberbank, is due to replace its CEO early next month as incumbent Alexander Kamalov is moving to another role in the Sberbank group and his first deputy, Yeldar Tenizbayev, will take up the reins. Tenizbayev is scheduled to take his new position on… Continue Reading
California city hosting educational forum on marketplace lending
A city in California is hosting an educational forum on December 8-10 on marketplace lending and alternative financing for investors, asset managers, family offices, insurers, lawyers, regulators and others. The Marketplace Lending & Alternative Financing Summit in Dana Point has dozens of topics on its agenda. They include online lending trends in the United States… Continue Reading
Sberbank’s intl business to be overseen by Denizbank ex-senior exec Timur Kozintsev
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank International will have a new chief executive as from the start of 2020 with Timur Kozintsev, a former senior figure at Turkey’s Denizbank, replacing Igor Kolomeysky at the helm of the international business division of Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender. Kozintsev was hired by Sberbank in 2013 and, as its director for… Continue Reading
Russia’s Sberbank carries out big promo campaign, sells bonds worth $26.8m
By Andrei Skvarsky. Hundreds of thousands of people took advantage of an annual promotion campaign by Sberbank last month which, besides a bunch of special offers, enabled Russia’s biggest lender to sell bonds worth 1.71bn roubles ($26.8m). There were offers in a wide range of services, including medical treatment, tour operating, car sales and taxi… Continue Reading
One of Inflexion’s portfolio firms makes five buyouts in November
By Andrei Skvarsky. British investment company Inflexion Private Equity has announced that its portfolio company Radius Payment Solutions, a fuel card manager, made five acquisitions in November. Inflexion owns a minority stake in Radius, which is based in Britain and has offices in various parts of Europe. Radius’s five acquisitions are two vehicle tracking companies,… Continue Reading
Bankers, pension trustees, consultants, lawyers to gather at Alternative Investing Summit in California
Bankers, consultants, lawyers and others are going to get together at an alternative investing conference in California early in December to look at a range of issues such as risks, asset allocation options, and cost cutting options. The agenda for the Alternative Investing Summit in Dana Point on December 4-6 also includes opportunities in emerging… Continue Reading
Germany pledges 20m-euro soft loan to Namibia to support SMEs, rural families
By Andrei Skvarsky. The German government has pledged a concessional loan of 325m Namibian dollars (20m euros) to Namibia under a November 15 agreement to support small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and rural and remotely-located households in the African country. The money would be provided by German state-owned development bank KfW to Namibian national postal… Continue Reading