By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital has set up a fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC) desk in Kenya and has hired Kenyan investment banker Winnie Cherotich Towett to run it. The desk’s products “will range from sovereign and corporate exchange-traded bonds (both primary and secondary) to eurobonds, Kenya treasury bills and East… Continue Reading
Sberbank buys into firm digitising Islamic alms collection
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, has acquired a 25 per cent stake in PayZakat, a Moscow-based company that has developed and operates a digital system for the collection and distribution of zakat, alms that are obligatory in Islam and are normally collected in cash worldwide. Continue Reading
Cyprus FX broker IMS Markets signs long-term deal with child support charity
By Andrei Skvarsky. IMS Markets, a Cypriot foreign exchange and contract-for-differences (CFD) broker, has made a long-term pledge to donate to a charity that supports children with mental health problems. Continue Reading
EU rules, bitcoin, blockchain to be discussed at European payments forum
Bankers and financial services officials are getting together in Barcelona this week for BizzPay 7.0 – European Corporate and Retail Payments Forum, to be held on June 13-14. Continue Reading
Sberbank-Luxembourg govt deal to help Russian hi-tech firms access EU markets
By Andrei Skvarsky. The Luxembourg government is going to help Russian high-tech firms to get established in European Union markets under an agreement of June 7 with Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender. Continue Reading
Sberbank crypto trade plans on ice due to Russian govt’s ‘negative’ position
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank has suspended plans to launch transactions in cryptocurrencies because of the Russian government’s “negative” position on digital money, a top manager at Russia’s biggest lender said last week. Continue Reading
UPDATE – Top African bankers to speak at Accra’s Digital Banking Summit
Some two dozen speakers, about half of them top figures in African banks, are going to take the floor at the Digital Banking Summit in Accra on August 19-20. Continue Reading
Guernsey’s ITI Funds says deal enables it to avoid crypto market risks
By Andrei Skvarsky. Guernsey-based investment company ITI Funds has said it has entered into a partnership that arms it with a technology to significantly reduce risks inherent in cryptocurrency transactions. Continue Reading
Sberbank’s Gref rules out ‘disastrous’ option of job in govt
By Andrei Skvarsky. Herman Gref, CEO of Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank, has flatly and forcefully ruled out any chance of his return into government, where he spent many years as a key economic reformer earlier on, and said a governmental job would be “the most disastrous ending to my career”. Continue Reading
RenCap rehires Alexander Vengranovich to oversee telecoms research
By Andrei Skvarsky. Alexander Vengranovich, who was a real estate analyst at Renaissance Capital in 2007-2008, has returned to the Moscow-based investment bank, this time as global head of telecoms research. Continue Reading
UPDATE – Connected Claims Europe Summit to discuss digitisation of claims services
Numerous insurers, among them AIG, Generali and Zurich, are getting together in Amsterdam in September for a pan-European conference to discuss the digitisation of the claims function in insurance. Continue Reading
London’s Sun Global co-manages bond issue for India’s no. 2 housing finance provider
By Andrei Skvarsky. London-based wealth and investment manager Sun Global Investments has co-arranged a $350m issue of three-year US dollar-denominated bonds with a yield of 6.4 per cent per year for Indiabulls Housing Finance (IBHF), India’s second-largest housing finance company. Continue Reading
Russia’s RenCap makes key hire for MENA team
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital has hired Omar Gaafar, a former senior manager at Egyptian investment company Beltone Financial, as vice-president of the Moscow-based firm’s investment banking service for the Middle East and North Africa. Continue Reading
Californian city to host private wealth management conference
Senior business executives and consultants from all over the United States are going to delve into key investment and wealth preservation issues at the Private Wealth Management Summit, an event in Rancho Mirage, California, on June 3-5 organised by the marcus evans company. Continue Reading
Insurance Nexus: Machine learning, AI to have main impact on claims services in next 5 years
A survey by event organiser Insurance Nexus suggests that more than half of claims executives in insurance companies worldwide believe that machine learning and artificial intelligence will have the greatest impact on claims services in the next five years. Continue Reading
Tolar HashNET test-launches UN-backed scalable, fast blockchain
By Andrei Skvarsky. Tolar HashNET, a technology firm based in ex-Yugoslav states, has developed and last month test-launched a blockchain platform that the United Nations has listed among projects supporting the Sustainable Development Goals set to the international community by the organisation. Continue Reading
Sberbank hires ex-MetLife exec to oversee pension subsidiary
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, has hired Alexander Zaretsky, a former 15-year-long CEO of the Russian operation of US insurer MetLife, as head of Sberbank Private Pension Fund, a subsidiary running private pension schemes for individuals and companies. Continue Reading
Sberbank: cybercrime to cost companies globally $2.5tn in 2019
By Andrei Skvarsky. According to Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, cybercrime inflicted total damages of $1.5 trillion on companies worldwide last year and will rob them of another $2.5 trillion in 2019. Continue Reading
High-powered financiers to discuss real estate investment at California event
Leading investors and top company managers are coming together in San Diego, California, on May 1-3 for a North America-focused conference on real estate investment. Continue Reading
Senior African bankers to meet over world banking digitisation
Senior African bankers are getting together for a conference in Accra this August to discuss the digitisation of banking across the world and issues it involves. Continue Reading
RenCap-hosted forum involves 150 meetings between Egypt companies and potential investors
By Andrei Skvarsky. Egyptian companies had about 150 meetings with foreign institutional investors owning assets totalling about $20bn during a recent conference organised by Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital. Continue Reading
Lebanon’s Bank Audi says Nexmo’s WhatsApp solution enables it to improve customer service
By Andrei Skvarsky. Lebanon-based Bank Audi has adopted a device developed by US technology company Nexmo to maintain direct contact with customers through WhatsApp, an increasingly popular means of communication worldwide. Continue Reading
How to Invest in Cryptocurrencies
Until a few years ago, words such as blockchain, cryptocurrency, Bitcoin or Ethereum were familiar only to a relatively small circle of crypto enthusiasts. But the wild price surge of Bitcoin back in 2017 brought the attention of the whole world to this newly emerged asset class. Opinions on that subject in the finance and… Continue Reading
Sberbank hires ex-Health Ministry official to oversee healthcare interests
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, has hired former senior Russian Health Ministry official Yury Krestinsky to oversee its interests in the country’s health sector. Continue Reading
Russian startup develops anti-fraud app for insurers
By Andrei Skvarsky. A Russian startup has developed a mobile application that it says enables insurers to protect themselves from fraudulent claims via a pre-insurance inspection of a property item involving multiple photographs that are dated and timed and record the item’s location. Continue Reading
RenCap to host forum to drum up money inflow into Egypt
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital is going to host a conference in Cape Town on April 9-10 to attract international, primarily South African, investment to Egypt, a country RenCap credits with highly successful economic reforms. Continue Reading
Sberbank calls on UAE businesses to invest in Russia, offers help
By Andrei Skvarsky. A senior delegation from Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, hosted a round table in Abu Dhabi last month during which they called on United Arab Emirates businesses to invest in Russia and offered them “direct assistance” with potential Russian projects. Continue Reading
London’s Sun Global arranges bond issue for India’s HDFC housing finance firm
By Andrei Skvarsky. London-based investment manager Sun Global Investments has organised a 10bn rupee ($145m) issue of bonds for a leading Indian housing finance provider, Housing Development Finance Corp (HDFC). Continue Reading
Sberbank hires ex-Raiffeisen banker for newly created investment job
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, has instituted a position of chief investment officer (CIO) in its wealth management division and hired former Raiffeisen Bank executive Sergei Schepilov to fill it in. Continue Reading