About 200 financiers are expected to come together for an annual conference in London on April 19-20 to discuss anticipated developments and investment opportunities in fixed income markets in Africa, the Middle East, Latin America, Asia, Central and Eastern Europe, Ukraine, Russia, other member countries of the Commonwealth of Independent States, and the Caucasus region. Continue Reading
COMMENT: Russian govt to deny cryptocurrencies are money in apparent plan to prevent legal quandaries
By Andrei Skvarsky. The Russian government is apparently resorting to verbal manipulation to rule out legal quagmires that might arise if a Russian bill of December 2017 to allow cryptocurrency deals becomes law – problems that could be caused by the rouble’s status as the only legal tender within Russia. Continue Reading
Sovcombank-Rosevrobank merger expected to create one of Russia’s top 3 private banks
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s Sovcombank and Rosevrobank have agreed to merge in a deal that will bring into being what is expected to be one of Russia’s top three private banks by assets and capital. Continue Reading
Vienna training session looking at new Basel standards for banking book interest rate risk management
A current training session in Vienna is focusing on revised standards for banking book interest rate risk management as set out in paper D368 of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision (BCBS), which was published in April 2016. Continue Reading
Microsoft, VISA, banks to ponder digitisation of Azerbaijan banking at Baku forum
Microsoft, VISA, SWIFT and many banks will take part in a planned international conference in Azerbaijan in April this year that will discuss an Azeri government strategy to digitise the oil-rich country’s banking and financial sectors. Continue Reading
All of Lowell’s UK business to be captained by ex-Bank of America risk manager
By Andrei Skvarsky. Debt recovery company Lowell has hired John Peers, an ex-consumer risk manager at Bank of America, as chief executive of its British operation. Continue Reading
Blockchain’s entry into emerging markets put on London forum agenda
Blockchain will be among numerous subjects to be raised at a large-scale annual forum on emerging markets on March 9-10 that has been organised by the Students’ Union of the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE SU). Continue Reading
Vienna training to focus on internal audit, landmark EU financial legislation
Internal audit in the banking industry and a European Union directive that has been described by Bloomberg as the “broadest piece of financial industry legislation ever” will be in the focus of two training sessions in Vienna on March 8-9 for financial market participants. Continue Reading
Blockchain technology, bitcoin on European payments forum agenda
Blockchain technology and bitcoin will be among the wide range of subjects to be raised at the 5th Annual European Payments Forum to be held in Amsterdam on March 1-2. Continue Reading
Fewer Russians dodge tax on foreign accounts as transparency pact signed – Tranio/Adam Smith Conferences survey
By Andrei Skvarsky. The proportion of wealthy Russians who declare bank accounts held abroad to Russian tax authorities has quadrupled over a little more than a year since Russia joined a multinational accord on the automatic exchange of financial information, surveys suggest. Continue Reading
GUEST POST: Playing the crypto-currency game like Warren Buffet
By Alex Mirzaian, Crypto-Currency Researcher. Being able to weather many markets is not easy. When it’s going up it seems like a breeze on a nice sunny day. When it’s a bear market, you start to freak out and get emotional. Since the early 1900s, the stock market has done the same thing that many… Continue Reading
EXCLUSIVE: Russian banks probing crypto market in anticipation of green-light law – Sovcombank
By Andrei Skvarsky. As Russia’s government is drawing up legislation to allow crypto-currency transactions, Russian banks are exploring opportunities in the global crypto-currency market. Continue Reading
GUEST POST: Forex vs bitcoin: return on investment comparison?
By David Webb, Business Consultant, Sydney, and Contributor to BizzmarkBlog.com. Over the past few years, investing in forex and crypto-currencies has become a lucrative opportunity for people with a limited budget. Unlike some traditional trading methods, these practices allow you to invest a small amount of money and yet generate an outstanding return on investment… Continue Reading
Russia’s Sovcombank buys 11-pct stake in Rosevrobank from EBRD
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s Sovcombank, a universal bank with an extensive nationwide retail network, has enlarged its interest in another Russian lender, Rosevrobank, by buying an 11-per-cent stake in the latter from the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). Continue Reading
Russia’s Sberbank launches trading unit the size of a square in a small town
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank has launched a huge financial sales and trading unit fitted with cutting-edge technology in its headquarters in Moscow. Continue Reading
FXPrimus, trade.io launching app for checking financial trade data accuracy
By Andrei Skvarsky. Blockchain trading platform provider trade.io and financial broker FXPrimus are launching a blockchain-based application for financial traders to check whether data shown on their MetaTrader 4 (MT4) online trading platform has not been tampered with. Continue Reading
Russia’s Sberbank to buy, sell crypto-currency via Swiss subsidiary
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, is making arrangements to launch trade in crypto-currency via its Swiss subsidiary before mid-2018, a senior banker said on January 30. Continue Reading
Helm at Sberbank’s Ukraine subsidiary passes over to Irina Knyazeva
By Andrei Skvarsky. The helm at the Ukrainian subsidiary of Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, has been handed to Irina Knyazeva, who has been appointed the subsidiary’s acting chief executive and until now has been deputy chief executive of the Ukrainian bank. Continue Reading
Russia’s contradictory bill: crypto money to be allowed but rouble to remain ‘the sole legal tender’
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s Finance Ministry has written a contradictory draft law on “digital financial assets” which would allow crypto-currencies to be used within Russia for making purchases but would declare that crypto money “shall not be a form of legal tender” within the country. Continue Reading
GUEST POST: When all else fails, raise hemlines
By Capitalist Exploits. Saudi Arabia. The arrival of cinema (after a 35-year ban), comedy shows, women driving. What the hell is happening? At this rate, within a few months Saudi women will be tottering around in lululemon and enraging the clerics via Instagram in their yoga pants. I could think of worse things. Continue Reading
FXGeometry institute to show new financial trading assistance bot this week
By Andrei Skvarsky. FXGeometry, an institute running online financial trading courses, is due to show a new Facebook messenger chatbot at iFX EXPO Asia, a global financial business-to-business exhibition to be held in Hong Kong on January 23-25. Continue Reading
Permira fund provides private equity firm Vitruvian with loan for buying out Techogroup
By Andrei Skvarsky. A fund run by Permira Debt Managers, an arm of private equity firm Permira, was the sole senior secured lender financing the recent buyout of German information service provider Technogroup IT-Service by pan-European private equity firm Vitruvian Partners. Continue Reading
Investor buys Russian power stations to use them for crypto-currency mining
By Andrei Skvarsky. A Russian private investor has bought two comparatively small power stations in Russia to convert them into facilities for crypto-currency mining. Continue Reading
Bitcoin vs forex trading: understanding the difference
By David Webb, business consultant, Sydney, and contributor to BizzmarkBlog. Since 2008, people have kept a close eye on all cryptocurrencies, bitcoin in particular. Being the flagship of all cryptocurrencies, bitcoin has come a long way since those early days, yet it still hasn’t established itself as other trading methods have. It’s still extremely unstable,… Continue Reading
More Countries Are Restricting Access To Blockchain Content
Blockchain has become a global phenomenon and more people are using the tool than ever. Blockchain technology is essentially a digital ledger which cryptocurrencies use to manage transactions. Blockchain technology encrypts the information inside the transaction and allows users to make these types of financial transactions without a bank or traditional financial institution. The Blockchain… Continue Reading
Russian finance minister beats colleagues by earning $1.42m for 2016 – declaration
By Andrei Skvarsky. Finance Minister Anton Siluanov declared total earnings of 95.44m roubles for 2016 ($1.42m at that year’s average market exchange rate), by far outdoing the other members of the Russian government who had their incomes for 2016 reported on the Finance Ministry website late last month. Continue Reading
Belarus legalises laissez-faire use of crypto-currencies as of March 2018
By Andrei Skvarsky. In an unexpectedly liberal move, the president of Belarus, a country with a state-controlled and largely Soviet-style economy, has issued a decree to give practically unlimited freedom for crypto-currency mining and transactions. Continue Reading
Banque Cantonale Vaudoise to be run by former senior Swiss diplomat
The position of chairman of Switzerland’s Banque Cantonale Vaudoise (BCV) is going over to Jacques de Watteville, formerly the country’s chief negotiator with the European Union and an ex-head of the Swiss finance ministry’s international relations department. Continue Reading
Lombard Odier hires Swiss central bank deputy governor Olivier Steimer as a director
Swiss private bank Lombard Odier has hired Olivier Steimer, today’s second-in-command of Switzerland’s central bank and formerly a senior manager at Credit Suisse, as an independent member of its board of directors. Continue Reading