By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian online retailer Ozon on February 25 blamed a technical mistake for its subsidiary Ozon Bank’s being among Russian entities and individuals sanctioned by the United States for presumed roles in Russia’s current invasion of Ukraine. Ozon said in a statement it would ask the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) of… Continue Reading
Euronext Dublin registers 5-year $5bn Eurobond programme to be launched by Russia’s Sovcombank
By Andrei Skvarsky. Euronext Dublin (the Irish Stock Exchange) has registered a five-year framework $5bn Eurobond programme to be launched by Sovcombank, one of Russia’s top ten lenders. Multinational investment banks J.P. Morgan and Renaissance Capital are acting as co-arrangers of the programme while Bank of New York Mellon is the trustee and principal paying… Continue Reading
Russia to give cryptocurrencies full legitimacy, scraps ban proposal
By Andrei Skvarsky. The Russian government has announced a plan to grant full-scale legality to cryptocurrencies as the central bank has obviously ditched a proposal for what, to all intents and purposes, would have been a blanket ban on digital money. Today cryptocurrencies have an ambiguous legal status in Russia. While it is allowed to… Continue Reading
Russia’s Sberbank announces restructuring, staff moves
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, on February 15 announced plans for structural changes and for a consequent senior staff reshuffle. The changes are due to be completed by June 1, 2022, according to a statement from the bank. Sberbank’s key non-banking business, e-commerce, would be overseen by a holding company to be set… Continue Reading
EVENTS: Commodities Trading USA 2022, Houston, June 7-8
Oil majors BP, ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, Chevron and Eni and banking giants Goldman Sachs and BNP Paribas will be among participants in Commodities Trading USA 2022, an in-person conference in Houston on June 7-8 organised by Reuters Events. The forum will take an overview of global commodities trade and focus on key present-day features of global… Continue Reading
Sumsub anti-fraud kit largely explains good record of Paybis crypto bourse – statement
By Andrei Skvarsky. Cryptocurrency exchange Paybis puts down much of its apparently successful performance over the past year and a half to a holistic and customisable fraud detection toolkit obtained from the Sumsub identity verification firm. Under the terms of an August 2020 deal, Sumsub has provided Paybis with an all-in-one solution enabling the crypto… Continue Reading
EVENTS: Investment Education Symposium, New Orleans, Feb 23-25
Investment communities in various countries are resuming post-lockdown in-person events, and the planned Investment Education Symposium 2022 in New Orleans on February 23-25 is one of them. The conference will address aspects of both traditional and alternative investment, fiduciary responsibility and selection of money managers for U.S. pension funds, endowments, foundations and other institutional investors. Investment… Continue Reading
Tinkoff, Finam Russia’s top investment brokers – Financer survey
By Andrei Skvarsky. A survey by Financer, multinational specialists in comparing financial services and products, suggests that Tinkoff Investments and Finam are Russia’s best-performing investment brokerages. Tinkoff Investments, a unit of Tinkoff Bank, offers a quick and simple account opening procedure, a large choice of instruments for investment and a convenient mobile app, according to… Continue Reading
YouTubing good alternative to 9 to 5 job but much depends on where one lives – Reboot
By Andrei Skvarsky. Making a living through paid content on YouTube is a tempting alternative to a 9 to 5 job but is a more challenging task in Western Europe than in the east of the continent because of different salary and price levels, a study by marketing agency Reboot suggests. A YouTuber living in… Continue Reading
ETF tops list of finance abbreviations Americans seek to know more about – study
By Andrei Skvarsky. Among hundreds of financial abbreviations that the average American cannot but wants to understand, ETF (“exchange-traded fund”) is the target of the largest annual number of online searches, according to British price comparison online company money.co.uk. There are on average 114,160 online searches per year in the United States, a nation of… Continue Reading
RenCap: Russian economy too resilient to be crippled by U.S. sanctions
By Andrei Skvarsky. An analysis by investment bank Renaissance Capital suggests that the Russian economy’s degree of resilience practically rules out it being sent haywire by Ukraine-related sanctions the White House has on the table and that harsher sanctions might have exorbitant international costs for the United States. Sanctions formulated in a bill put before… Continue Reading
Russia’s Sberbank confirms Ekaterina Latypova as head of agile
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, has definitively appointed vice-president Ekaterina Latypova as head of agile transformation, a position she has held provisionally since August 2021, and has raised her status to senior vice-president. Latypova joined Sberbank in 2015 as vice-president and head of strategy and development. Since then the bank has approved three… Continue Reading
Russia’s Matrix Capital says its VC fund a prosperous business
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian investment boutique Matrix Capital has announced it set up a prosperous venture capital fund in 2021 in seeking an antidote to dwindling yields from bonds and other usual financial instruments. Matrix has about a dozen startups in the fund’s portfolio, some of them American, some European, some Israeli, and some from… Continue Reading
New inflation wave to hit Russia soon – head of Matrix Capital
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia is most likely in for a surge in inflation this or next month, according to the head of Moscow-based investment banking boutique Matrix Capital. Pavel Teplukhin, general partner at Matrix, largely based his forecast on the role of inflationary psychology, an attitude that makes consumers buy more goods than usual in… Continue Reading
EVENTS: Reuters Events webinar on Jan 11 to help commodities firms meet COP26 targets without ceasing to be profitable
It remains unclear how the global commodities industry would be able to meet net zero targets set to it by COP26 and remain profitable at the same time, but a free Reuters Events webinar on January 11, “COP26 – Assessing the Repercussions for the Commodities Sector”, is purported to provide answers. You may register for… Continue Reading
Debex delinquent debts auction house establishes pan-Asia presence
By Andrei Skvarsky. Debex, a Moscow-based multinational company running online auctions for delinquent debts, sold a debt portfolio of about $70m in the Philippines in September in a prelude to the formal launch of the firm’s pan-Asia subsidiary, Debex.Asia, on November 24. Debex.Asia, which is headquartered in Manila, Philippines, and has an offfice in Ho… Continue Reading
VC firm Fort Ross announces interim closure of late-stage investment fund at $100m
By Andrei Skvarsky. Fort Ross Ventures, a Silicon Valley-based venture capital company, has announced an interim closure at $100m of a fund for the late-stage financing of startups. The Late-Stage Fund, whose declared target volume is $200m, is focused on investing in technology-enabled companies having a potential for an initial public offering (IPO) or a… Continue Reading
Russia’s Aton launches crypto market index & analysis report
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian investment company Aton announced on November 11 that it has launched a daily value index of five key cryptocurrencies and a weekly analytical cryptocurrency and blockchain report. The Aton Crypto Index (ATONCRPT), which is a joint product of Aton and S&P, covers Bitcoin, Ethereum, Binance Coin, Cardano and Ripple, an Aton… Continue Reading
Russia’s Mercury retailer puts off IPO over ‘market conditions’
By Andrei Skvarsky. Mercury Retail, Russia’s third-largest food retailer, announced on November 9 that it had postponed a planned initial public offering due to “current market conditions”. Mercury did not say when the IPO would be held. The IPO, first announced on October 27, was to take place on Moscow Exchange and was expected to… Continue Reading
Russian retailer Mercury hopes to raise up to $1.3bn via IPO
By Andrei Skvarsky. Mercury Retail, Russia’s third-largest food retailer, expects to raise between $1.2bn and $1.3bn via a planned initial public offering. BofA Securities, J.P. Morgan, Sberbank, VTB, Gazprombank and Renaissance Capital are organising the float, to take place on Moscow Exchange and involve offering up to 200m global depositary receipts (GDRs) each of which… Continue Reading
EVENTS: Three conferences not to be missed this month
European CLO Summit 2021, London, November 8. An in-person educational conference on collateralised loan obligation issues for investors, issuers, underwriters, rating agencies, lawyers and accountants. It will take place at the London Marriott Hotel Grosvenor Square. Extensive sanitary precautions are promised by the organisers, New York-headquartered Opal Group. Commodities Trading 2021, November 9-10. An online… Continue Reading
Rouble best-faring of EM currencies but Russian economy may hit the rocks ‘any moment’ – Matrix Capital
By Andrei Skvarsky. The Russian rouble has been the best-performing of emerging market currencies in 2021 and is likely to get stronger in the near term but Russia’s economy as a whole is an unpredictable state and may run into trouble “any moment”, according to Moscow’s asset management boutique Matrix Capital. Inflation is likely to… Continue Reading
World ESG-focused investments likely to get above $53 tln mark by 2025 – Matrix Capital
By Andrei Skvarsky. Global investments compliant with environmental, social and governance (ESG) principles may exceed $53 trillion by 2025, making up about one-third of the world’s total assets under management, said the head of Moscow-based asset management boutique Matrix Capital. ESG-compliant debt markets may show an even more impressive growth with the total value of… Continue Reading
RenCap announces two hires for Africa team, one hire for London unit
By Andrei Skvarsky. Investment bank Renaissance Capital has announced three hires – two for technology-related research positions in its Africa operation and one for a London-based role of overseeing the firm’s relations with key institutional and retail clients. Yusuf Ibrahim has been hired as an analyst for venture investment in private-sector technology companies in Africa, including… Continue Reading
Julius Baer announces staff moves for Swiss market, makes hires for Moscow investment unit
By Andrei Skvarsky. Swiss bank Julius Baer has announced staff moves in its central management in Switzerland and made hires for its Moscow-based investment consultancy for Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS). Gilles Stuck, today’s head of structured finance, will be in charge of the Zurich-headquartered bank’s entire Switzerland business with effect from… Continue Reading
Moscow’s Renaissance Insurance Group planning IPO
By Andrei Skvarsky. Moscow-based Renaissance Insurance Group expects to raise up to 21bn roubles (about $289m) through a planned initial public offering (IPO) of ordinary shares being co-organised by Credit Suisse, J.P. Morgan, VTB Capital, BCS Global Markets, Renaissance Capital, Sberbank and the Tinkoff bank. Moscow Exchange would be the site of the planned floating,… Continue Reading
UAE’s Mubadala, two other firms invest $33m in Open Mineral metals trader
By Andrei Skvarsky. United Arab Emirates state investment company Mubadala and two other firms have put $33m into Switzerland-headquartered base metals trading company Open Mineral to help it further sophisticate the digitisation of its business. Dusseldorf-headquartered venture capital firm Statkraft Ventures and Beijing- and Hong Kong-based private equity fund Lingfeng Capital were the investors that joined Mubadala in… Continue Reading
Kremlin brushes off Kudrin’s call for sweeping privatisation
By Andrei Skvarsky. The Kremlin has poured cold water over a forceful proposal by ex-finance minister Alexei Kudrin, today head of Russia’s state audit agency, for a scale of privatisation that would end the current state domination of Russia’s economy. In an article in a business magazine, Kudrin cites an estimate by Moscow’s state-controlled Institute… Continue Reading
EVENTS: Commercial Lines Innovation Europe, virtual event on Oct 11-13 to discuss role of technology in commercial insurance
Allianz, AXA, Generali and two dozen other insurance companies have confirmed they will take part in Commercial Lines Innovation Europe, a planned virtual conference on October 11-13 to focus on the role of technology and innovation in commercial insurance. More than 1,000 insurers are expected to attend the forum, whose extensive agenda will be divided… Continue Reading