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
Russian Aquaculture raises $17m via SPO co-run by Gazprombank, Otkritie
By Andrei Skvarsky. One of Russia’s main producers of farm-grown salmon and trout, Russian Aquaculture, has announced it has raised more than 1bn roubles ($17m) through a recent second public offering (SPO) co-run by two Russian banks, Gazprombank and Otkritie. Continue Reading
Cryptocurrency-focused firm Brickblock plans world’s first sale of tokenised real estate
By Andrei Skvarsky. Brickblock, a company building a blockchain-based trading platform for connecting cryptocurrencies with real-world assets, is due to put the world’s first tokenised real estate item – an apartment block in Berlin – on sale this month. Continue Reading
How healthy are your investments?
When is the last time you assessed the financial health of your investments? You should, typically, assess your investments annually. All investments, even the medium to long-term investments, will benefit from annual assessments. They allow one to get a better picture of the investment performance and let you review your choices. Be careful though, frequent… Continue Reading
Ex-senior Credit Suisse banker hired by fast-growing Russian hypermarket chain Lenta
By Andrei Skvarsky. A former Credit Suisse chief executive for Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States, Steven Hellman, has been hired as a non-executive director by Lenta, Russia’s largest hypermarket chain. Continue Reading
Russian Aquaculture sets SPO for Dec 11, aims to raise $34m
By Andrei Skvarsky. Fish-farming company Russian Aquaculture, one of Russia’s main producers of salmon and trout, has scheduled a secondary public offering (SPO) of shares for December 11. Continue Reading
Crypto start-up trade.io plans ICO, aims to raise $135m
By Andrei Skvarsky. Cryptocurrency start-up trade.io, which is based in Zug, Switzerland, aims to raise $135m in a current round of funding, with the bulk of the sum to come via a planned initial coil offering (ICO) between December 5 and December 15. Continue Reading
GUEST POST: How to determine whether Gazprom is a good or bad investment
By Nick Hubble, Editor at Southbank Investment Research, a publishing company in London specialising in investment, market trends and technology.* Gazprom is listed on various stockmarkets and trades at an extraordinary discount to its value. The reason is simple: the unpredictable conflicts between Russia and its geopolitical adversaries. Continue Reading
Gazprombank, Otkritie to manage Russian Aquaculture’s SPO
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian lenders Gazprombank and Otkritie Bank will be the joint global coordinators and bookrunners for a secondary public offering of shares (SPO) to be launched by Russian Aquaculture, a leading Russian salmon and trout farmer. Continue Reading
Sberbank’s Indian branch gets highest rating from Fitch’s Indian subsidiary
By Andrei Skvarsky. The Indian subsidiary of Fitch Ratings has assigned its highest credit rating to a 1bn-rupee ($15.5m) certificate-of-deposit programme to be launched by the Indian branch of Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender. Continue Reading
Asia Frontier Capital (AFC) – October 2017 Newsletter
AFC Funds Performance Summary Major equity markets rallied this past month and frontier markets generally fared well as the MSCI Frontier Markets Net Total Return USD Index gained +1.2% this month and is now up +26.4% YTD, while the MSCI Frontier Markets Asia Net Total Return USD added +5.2% this month and is up +20.4%… Continue Reading
Russian watchdog blocks access to 13 cryptocurrency-focused websites
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s communications watchdog has blocked access to 13 cryptocurrency trading or information websites, citing court rulings. Continue Reading
EXCLUSIVE: Moscow office of Egypt’s Banque Misr to help Russian, Egyptian firms – chairman
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian companies seeking to do business in Middle Eastern countries and Egyptian firms wishing to work in Russia will receive “extremely extensive” financial support from Banque Misr, a top Egyptian lender that has just opened a representative office in Moscow, the bank’s chairman has said. Continue Reading
Brickblock aims to raise $50m via ICO, plans apartment block sale for digital money
By Andrei Skvarsky. Brickblock, a Berlin-based firm building the first-ever platform to connect cryptocurrencies with real-world assets, aims to raise $50m in an initial coin offering (ICO) – a standard fundraising method used by cryptocurrency ventures – that is due to launch on October 31. Continue Reading
Sberbank joins Enterprise Ethereum Alliance
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, has become the country’s first bank to join the Enterprise Ethereum Alliance (EEA), a nonprofit whose purpose is to coordinate the engineering of an open-source reference standard and a version of the Ethereum trading blockchain that can address the common interests of firms in a wide range of… Continue Reading
Russian “crypto roubles” to have little in common with bitcoin
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia will soon launch its own cryptocurrency, the “crypto rouble”, the communications minister has said, citing a decision by President Vladimir Putin. Continue Reading
Asia Frontier Capital (AFC) – September 2017 Newsletter
“Patience is bitter, but its fruit is sweet.” – Aristotle AFC Funds Performance Summary Frontier markets performed well last month as the MSCI Frontier Markets Net Total Return USD Index gained +2.0% and the MSCI Frontier Markets Asia Net Total Return USD added +3.8%. At the same time, the MSCI World Index Net Total Return USD… Continue Reading