Russian fintech fund Life.Sreda is seeking buyers for the greater part of its portfolio companies, both Russian and foreign, Russian business daily Vedomosti has learned from unnamed industry insiders. The fund intends to concentrate on the development of its most promising project, mobile acquiring startup LifePay. In an exchange with the newspaper, Life.Sreda representative Anna… Continue Reading
Sanctioned Sberbank reports booming trade finance, documentary business for 2014
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, has reported trade finance and documentary business transactions for last year by its parent Moscow-headquartered company. Continue Reading
EXCLUSIVE: S&P’s junk grade for Russia no bombshell – Swiss banker
By Andrei Skvarsky. A Moscow-based senior manager at Swiss bank Lombard Odier has argued that ratings agency S&P’s lowering of the sovereign credit rating Continue Reading
Asia Frontier Capital Newsletter – Country Snapshot: Bangladesh
With over 160 million people, a young and cheap labor force and a strategic location between India and China – two of largest engines of global economic growth over the past decade – Bangladesh maintains strong prospects for extended economic growth. Continue Reading
Associate Finance Manager for Venture Fund, Moscow
A direct vacancy from www.russiansinthecity.eu Responsibilities: – Analysis of investment projects; – Analysis of business models of project companies of the fund in Russia; – Preparation of managerial finance statements for project companies of the fund; – Preparation of investment presentations about portfolio companies of the fund. Continue Reading
COO Assistant / PA, Russian-speaking, London
A direct vacancy from www.russiansinthecity.eu A new London based hedge fund management company is looking for an assistant to COO, who would also cover PA functions for three partners. Continue Reading
Mongolia’s XacBank lending $10m to Mongolia Holdings rental firm
By Andrei Skvarsky. XacBank, one of Mongolia’s largest banks, has agreed to lend $10m to Mongolia Holdings, the Hertz Equipment Rental franchisee for Mongolia, as the first tranche of a proposed $40m credit line from the lender. Continue Reading
Deutsche Boerse group: Consumer sentiment in Russia lowest for nearly 2 years
By Andrei Skvarsky. Monthly polls of ordinary Russians by MNI Indicators, an intelligence unit of the Deutsche Boerse group, suggest that consumer confidence in Russia has been fizzling out steadily for months and in January hit the lowest mark since the surveys were launched in March 2013. Continue Reading
Juniper Research: Use of cryptocurrencies plummeting over theft, murky deals
By Andrei Skvarsky. Juniper Research, a UK-based communications research and consultancy company, forecasts that global cryptocurrency transactions will plummet in value this year to just over $30bn from more than $71bn in 2014. Continue Reading
IronFX launches office in Johannesburg
IronFX Global, a Eurex group foreign exchange trading company, has announced it has opened an office in Johannesburg. Continue Reading
Runa Capital-led effort raises $3m for Seattle’s LendingRobot
Runa Capital, a Moscow-headquartered global venture firm, has led a funding round in which $3m was raised for Seattle-based startup LendingRobot, an automated investment service for online lending, East-West Digital News Magazine (EWDN) has said. Continue Reading
7th Russia & CIS Summit on ANTI-CORRUPTION – March 24-25, 2015 – Ararat Park Hyatt Moscow
7th Russia & CIS Summit on ANTI-CORRUPTION March 24-25, 2015 Ararat Park Hyatt Moscow, Moscow WEBSITE BROCHURE SPEAKERS WORKSHOPS REGISTER This highly-rated 7th Russia and CIS Summit on Anti-Corruption offers unparalleled benchmarking and networking opportunities, progressive insights from a faculty of… Continue Reading
Sberbank: ‘New economic model’ developed in Russia, growth likely to resume in 2016
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, this week came up with an unusually upbeat economic forecast, arguing that the Russian economy has adjusted to the low oil price and is likely to resume growth in 2016. Continue Reading
MNI Indicators: Russian companies slightly more upbeat but overall sentiment negative
By Andrei Skvarsky. A survey by the Deutsche Boerse group’s intelligence company MNI Indicators suggests there has been slightly more business optimism among Russian companies this month than in December, but that their overall sentiment has remained negative because of the Ukraine-related Western sanctions, low oil prices and the depreciating ruble. Continue Reading
Apple, Valve join ranks of boycotters of Crimea – tech magazine
Technology giant Apple and video game developer Valve have joined the ranks of US companies that have severed their ties with Crimea in compliance with the American sanctions following Russia’s annexation of the peninsula from Ukraine last spring, according to Moscow-based magazine the East-West Digital News (EWDN). Continue Reading
Moscow Exchange to double the tick for some forex instruments
Moscow Exchange has announced it will increase the price tick for USD/RUB, EUR/RUB and GBP/RUB foreign exchange spot instruments to RUB 0.001 from today’s RUB 0.0005 with effect from February 2. Continue Reading
RenCap hires ex-HSBC researcher as frontier markets analyst
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital has hired Seki Mutukwa, a former senior researcher at HSBC, as a frontier markets analyst. Continue Reading
Moscow Exchange reports booming securities, FX trade despite economic downturn
By Andrei Skvarsky. Moscow Exchange has reported vast increases in securities and foreign exchange (FX) trade for 2014 despite Russia’s steady movement towards recession that year. Continue Reading
Asia Frontier Capital (AFC) Newsletter – 2014 Annual Review
2014 was a strong year for the AFC Asia Frontier Fund (AAFF) as a young team came together to establish a platform for future growth. This was not only reflected in the fund’s performance, but also in our focus on making on-the-ground visits to countries, meeting more companies, talking to people in our markets, and… Continue Reading
Newsletter from Canrim Resources, a Singaporean company focused on mineral resources development in Mongolia
Reflecting on 2014, Mongolia has come far, yet still has further to go. Early in the year many structural issues loomed large. This included the moratorium on the issuance of exploration licenses, development of large scale power projects and the railroad gauge debate, all of which were recently successfully resolved. In light of these productive developments, and a… Continue Reading
EXCLUSIVE: Economists say practically no chance of Greece leaving euro
By Andrei Skvarsky. The idea of a Greek exit from the eurozone is back in the foreground, largely because of upcoming elections in Greece, but three high-powered economists have argued in interviews with EmergingMarkets.me that there is practically zero chance of the country breaking away. Continue Reading
Junior In-House Lawyer, London
A direct vacancy from www.russiansinthecity.eu A FTSE listed natural resources company currently undergoing refinancing is looking for a junior in-house lawyer to join the team reporting to the Group Head of Legal Affairs. Continue Reading
Accountant Project Assignment 1-2 months, London
A direct vacancy from www.russiansinthecity.eu Expected 1-2 months full time, can be remote work Relevant experience – GAAP, UK investments, multiple clients records, reporting English compulsory; Russian language preferred contact careers@russiansinthecity.eu Continue Reading
EU issues guidelines on how to avoid fraud in online payments
By Andrei Skvarsky. The European Union last month came up with guidelines for Internet payment providers on how to avoid increasing frauds that have yearly been sucking in hundreds of millions of euros across the EU. Continue Reading
Deutsche Boerse group poll suggests production in Russia at “lowest level on record”
By Andrei Skvarsky. A monthly survey by Deutsche Boerse group’s intelligence firm MNI Indicators suggests that Russian companies were a wee bit more optimistic in December than the month before but that production was at “the lowest level on record”, which appeared “to be finally spilling over to the jobs market”. Continue Reading
EXCLUSIVE: Central bank too slow to react to ruble’s slide – Deutsche Boerse group analyst
Philip Uglow, chief economist at Deutsche Boerse-owned research company MNI Indicators, has said that last week’s key rate hike to 17% from 10.5% by the Russian central bank showed “how slow” the regulator had been to react to the slide of the ruble. Continue Reading
Russia's RenCap promotes Ilgin Erdogan to chief exec of Turkey office
By Andrei Skvarsky. Renaissance Capital has promoted its head of Turkey research, Ilgin Erdogan, to chief executive of the Russian investment bank’s Turkish office. Continue Reading
Dramatic rate hike to take Russian economy closer to “collapse” – economists
By Andrei Skvarsky. The Russian central bank’s raise of the key rate to 17% from 10.5% on December 16 comes as early and stark proof of a forecast last week by Philip Uglow, chief economist at Deutsche Boerse research firm MNI Indicators, who said the regulator would further tighten its monetary policy but argued this… Continue Reading
ASIA FRONTIER CAPITAL – Country Snapshot – Iraq
Despite being plagued by armed conflict for most of the last decade, Iraq’s economy is rebounding and showing promising signs for surging growth in the future. Iraq is an enormously wealthy country, devastated by over 30 years of terrible conflicts and crippling sanctions, and almost torn apart by civil strife. Continue Reading