By Andrei Skvarsky. RTS on Friday launched trade in Micex index futures and options as the first instruments to have been developed jointly by Russia’s two key stock exchanges after the start of their merger process. The new instruments are denominated in rubles. “Indices derivatives denominated in local currencies are marked by high volatility levels… Continue Reading
Merrill Lynch promises “strategic hires” in Russia
By Andrei Skvarsky. Bank of America Merrill Lynch has announced it “is strengthening its infrastructure” in Russia and is going to make “strategic hires”. Moving to new offices in central Moscow is part of BAML’s expansion in Russia, according to a statement by the bank, which recently dismissed one of its top Moscow-based managers, Sergey… Continue Reading
Aton hands senior DMA sales role to UniCredit's Somov
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian investment firm Aton has hired Evgeny Somov from UniCredit Securities for a senior job in direct market access sales. A member of Aton’s DMA sales staff confirmed Somov’s appointment to EmergingMarkets.me. Somov’s career has included stints with Finam, Renaissance Capital and Deutsche Bank. Continue Reading
TKB Capital puts Otkritie’s Nazarov in charge of equity sales
By Andrei Skvarsky. TKB Capital, an investment bank owned by Russian mining giant Norilsk Nickel, has hired Evgeny Nazarov from Otkritie as head of equity sales. A TKB spokeswoman told EmergingMarkets.me that Nazarov had already taken up his duties at the Moscow-based firm, which was bought by Norilsk Nickel from Russian railways monopoly… Continue Reading
Promsvyazbank hires ex-Aton banker to run trust management arm
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s Promsvyazbank has hired Alexei Ischenko, a former senior executive at Aton, as head of its trust management division. Ischenko’s duties include the “evolvement and implementation of the development strategy” of the division, according to a statement by Promsvyazbank, a Moscow-based lender co-owned by the European Bank for Reconstruction and… Continue Reading
Barclays Russia on the block again as Kazakhs back out
Barclays Bank’s deal to sell its Russian retail unit to Kazakhstan’s leading lender by assets is no longer on the cards, according to Kommersant. Kazkommertsbank is believed to have changed its mind after reaching a tentative agreement with the British lender in February. The British bank opted to sell the former Expobank business because it… Continue Reading
Financial regulator not to intefere in "more calm'' markets
By Ivan Anderzhanov. Russia’s financial regulator has opted not to interfere by using market controls like it availed of in the aftermath of the last financial crisis in 2008. Dmitry Pankin, head of the Federal Financial Markets Service, held a meeting with traders and representatives of the Central Bank of Russia to discuss the highly… Continue Reading
Otkritie nabs Natkin for New York sales position
By Marcus Williams. Russia’s Otkritie Capital has recruited J.P. Natkin from French bank Credit Agricole as director of equity sales for its new Wall Street office. J.P. Natkin, a Russia veteran with over two decades of experience, worked in Russia for the Australian resource venture capital group Vanguard Petroleum. Most recently, he served as a… Continue Reading
Sberbank slashes branch network by 239
By Ivan Anderzhanov. Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, has cut its retail network by 239 in the first six months of this year even as major foreign lenders retreat from the sector. Data from the Central Bank indicates that rival Russian banks like VTB24, Gazprombank, Alfa-Bank and Rosbank have increased the size of their retail network,… Continue Reading
Russia Finance Minister Kudrin 'quits' after 11 years
By Marcus Williams. Russia’s Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, the cool-headed darling of the country’s purse-strings, has resigned after clashing with President Dmitry Medvedev. Kudrin, who ran finance since 2000, quit the government after saying he would not work under Medvedev in next year’s cabinet due to serious disagreements over spending in defense. Kudrin had indicated… Continue Reading
Kudrin depature to rupture Russian investment case
By Ivan Anderzhanov and Eugene Kasevin. Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin‘s statement that he is unwilling to work in a future Russian government after the presidential elections will dent investor confidence in the country’s fiscal discipline. Kudrin yesterday ruled himself out of working in the next government, if President Dmitry Medvedev becomes premier, following Vladimir… Continue Reading
Dutch minister urges EU sanctions for Magnitsky’s alleged killers
By Andrei Skvarsky. Dutch Foreign Minister Uri Rosenthal has called for European Union-wide sanctions on Russian officials blamed for the death of Hermitage Capital lawyer Sergei Magnitsky if Russia fails to take criminal action against them. “Depending on the outcomes of the Russian judicial investigation, I intend to raise the possibility of further action at… Continue Reading
Russia seeks to lift the lid on Swiss bank accounts
By Andrei Skvarsky. The Swiss government has promised to disclose details of some of the Russian accounts in Swiss banks to Russian authorities. Under an agreement planned for this week, Russia would be able to seek such information if any of its citizens with a bank account in Switzerland is suspected of tax evasion or… Continue Reading
Jordan asks to join EBRD
By Andrei Skvarsky. Jordan has asked to join the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development with a view to receiving EBRD funding, the European institution said in a statement. Jordan has now joined Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia in seeking EBRD membership. The four nations are the target of support under the “Deauville Partnership”, launched at… Continue Reading
RenCap hires economist for Turkey, Eastern European countries, Egypt
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian broker Renaissance Capital has hired Mert Yildiz from Kuwait China Investment Company as economist for Turkey, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland and Egypt. Yildiz, who will be based in London, worked as an economist at the Istanbul operation of Dutch bank ING before joining Kuwait China Investment Company, RenCap said in a statement. Continue Reading
VTB expects bailed-out Bank of Moscow to make rocketing profits
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s state-owned VTB Group, which is taking over Bank of Moscow, expects the latter to make a minimum net profit of 30bn rubles for 2013, a sum equivalent to $954m at the current exchange rate. Bank of Moscow recorded losses of 68.3bn rubles ($2.17bn) for 2010. However, VTB expects the capital city’s… Continue Reading
J.P. Morgan lends $100m to Sberbank
By Andrei Skvarsky. J.P. Morgan has extended a five-year loan of $100m to Sberbank for the “pre-export financing of a corporate client in the Russian oil and gas sector”, Russia’s biggest lender said. The loan “comes at a time of uncertainty about the availability of liquidity in Europe and is testimony to our trusted relationship… Continue Reading
BNP Paribas replaces chief operating officer in Moscow
By Andrei Skvarsky. French bank BNP Paribas has appointed Palle Larsen as chief operating officer at its Russian subsidiary, having moved him over from a similar job in Paris. In his Moscow-based position Larsen, who is Danish, replaces Kieran MacMahon, who has been transferred to the French lender’s representative office in Turkey, according to Russian… Continue Reading
RenCap records 25% drop in London operation’s revenues for 2010
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian brokerage Renaissance Capital’s London-based operation recorded a 25% drop in its revenues for last year due to a change of strategy. The London firm’s revenues plunged by $17m to $52m in 2010 due to its changed strategy of earning its income from commissions on a brokerage basis, rather than by profiting… Continue Reading
Troika Dialog hires Merrill’s Todd Berman to co-run investment banking
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian broker Troika Dialog has hired Todd Berman from Bank of America Merrill Lynch as co-head of investment banking. Berman, who takes up his new role early next month, will share the job of running Troika’s investment banking business with Igor Sagiryan, who joined the Moscow-headquartered brokerage two years ago, the firm said in… Continue Reading
Russia’s sovereign private equity fund names advisers
By Andrei Skvarsky. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), a sovereign institution for promoting foreign investment in Russia’s barren private equity sector, has put together an international advisory board, appointing to it company chiefs and sovereign wealth top brass from various countries. The board’s nine members, who will work on a pro bono basis, include top figures… Continue Reading
Troika’s Vardanian quits as head of Skolkovo management school
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian brokerage Troika Dialog’s founder and chief executive, Ruben Vardanian, has stepped down as president of the Kremlin-overseen Skolkovo Moscow School of Management. Vardanian, who will remain involved with the school, heading its Committee on International Cooperation and Strategic Partnerships, has been replaced by Andrey Rappoport, one of the institution’s founding partners.… Continue Reading
Russian sovereign fund for private equity support makes top hires
By Andrei Skvarsky. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), a sovereign fund for the promotion of foreign investment in Russia’s private equity sector, has announced a series of top hires, bringing in bankers from Troika Dialog, Alfa Group and other firms. Directorships have been handed to Richard Ogdon from Troika Dialog, Tagir Sitdekov from Alfa… Continue Reading
BREAKING NEWS: Kremlin gets rid of "business-friendly" Prokhorov
Eugene Kasevin, EM in Moscow Recent sabotage in Mikhail Prokhorov’s Right Cause party has taken a hard turn today when Russia’s biggest taxpayer was forced to withdraw his party membership along with his leadership. Mikhail Prokhorov, a billionaire whose assets include half of Russian brokerage Renaissance Capital, has publicly accused Vladislav Surkov, President Dmitry Medvedev’s first deputy chief… Continue Reading
WEAFER COMMENT: Moscow, twinned with Cushing
By Chris Weafer, Chief Strategist at Troika Dialog. On the face of it, there is little in common between the Russian capital, population 11.5 mln, and Cushing, Oklahoma, population 8,400. But they do have one important factor in common; Cushing is where the price of WTI is fixed, and over the past six months, the… Continue Reading
Putin-linked lender to buy out Bank St Petersburg
By Andrei Skvarsky. Bank St Petersburg, one of Russia’s biggest regional lenders, is planning to sell out to the Rossiya bank as state-controlled entities mop up privately held banks. Rossiya is controlled by Yury Kovalchuk, a man widely reputed as Putin’s “personal banker”. The two banks, both of which are based in St Petersburg, are… Continue Reading
RenCap hires Nomura's Shambayati to co-lead global markets
By Andrei Skvarsky. Moscow-based Renaissance Capital has hired Soroosh Shambayati as managing director and global co-head of markets from Japan’s Nomura. Shambayati will have responsibility for fixed income, currency and commodities (FICC) in Rencap’s key geographies of Russia, the CIS, Central and Eastern Europe (CEE), Asia and Africa. At Nomura, he had been chairman of global emerging markets.… Continue Reading
Troika names Aton's Fedorova for business support role
Troika Dialog, the brokerage being acquired by state-controlled Sberbank, has appointed Irina Fedorova as director of business support. Fedorova, who last worked at Aton in a business support role, will be responsbile for supporting Troika’s private client division as well as “servicing private clients within the framework of the Sberbank merger”. Prior to Aton, she… Continue Reading
China to launch investment fund for Russia
By Andrei Skvarsky. China plans to launch a fund to help Chinese small and medium-sized firms to invest in Russia. China’s National Development and Reform Commission has invited Russia to join the fund when the latter becomes well-established, according to Chinese news agency Xinhua. Continue Reading