Anna Vasilenko, an ex-head of primary markets at the Moscow Exchange, has been hired as chief executive officer of emerging markets communications firm and investment consultancy EM to replace Tom Blackwell, who is moving to the newly created role as chairman of the EM management board. Before joining the Moscow Exchange, Vasilenko had worked at… Continue Reading
Russian unit of Oney banking group to go over from Sovcombank to Ozon retailer
By Andrei Skvarsky. Oney Bank LLC, the Russian unit of global banking group Oney, is changing hands as Sovcombank, one of Russia’s largest private lenders, has signed a deal to sell it to Russian online retailer Ozon. Ozon is buying 100 per cent of Oney, according to a statement from the retailer, which held an… Continue Reading
Russia’s Segezha timber products maker to hold IPO
Russian timber products manufacturer Segezha, a subsidiary of Russian conglomerate Sistema, has announced a plan to hold an initial public offering (IPO) of ordinary shares. The IPO would be held on the Moscow Exchange. Segezha expects to raise at least 30bn roubles ($396m at the April 14 exchange rate) via a primary offering of newly… Continue Reading
KPMG, Deloitte, Grant Thornton to advise Uzbekistan on privatisation of 18 firms
Global accounting and advisory firms KPMG, Deloitte and Grant Thornton have been hired to advise the Uzbekistan government on the planned privatisation of 18 companies, including an insurer, oil refinery, electricity transmission line builder, and 10 wine and spirits producers. State investment company UzAssets said this week that 86 bids had come in from 17… Continue Reading
Russia’s Sberbank offers a bunch of services as $5 monthly subscription package
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, has launched a scheme for retail clients that, for a monthly subscription fee of 399 roubles ($5), offers a diversity of financial and non-financial services, including a free debit card and discounts on food delivery, taxi journeys, and restaurant bills. The SberPrime+ scheme involves the acquisition of a… Continue Reading
Buildings in Tashkent, mountain resorts on sale under Uzbekistan privatisation project
Uzbekistan’s government plans to sell several properties, including three mountain resorts, under a real estate privatisation project announced last week. Five properties with a total floor space of 85,490 square metres (920,000 square feet) are going on sale in capital city Tashkent. They are a business centre, hotel, indoor houseware market, newspaper printing office and… Continue Reading
ActivTrades: Inflation concerns a key world stock market factor
An analyst at London-based financial broker ActivTrades has argued that mixed developments in global stock markets this week are “broadly a reflection of lingering inflation concerns”. Investors expect an early rise in inflation in the United States because of the current successful vaccine rollouts there, technical analyst Pierre Veyret said in a statement. On the… Continue Reading
Russia’s Sberbank buying out e-commerce firm goods.ru
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, has signed a deal to buy out goods.ru (Marketplace), a Russian e-commerce company selling a wide range of consumer goods, among them electronics, car accessories, furniture, toys and medicines. Sberbank is going to acquire an 85 per cent stake in goods.ru by buying part of Russian electronics retailer… Continue Reading
Russian gold miner GV Gold puts off IPO over market ‘volatility’
GV Gold, one of Russia’s largest gold miners, has postponed a planned initial public offering (IPO) because of what its chief executive officer has described as “elevated levels of market volatility in global and Russian capital markets”. The IPO was to be held on the Moscow Exchange. Trading had been scheduled to start on March… Continue Reading
Financial literacy in UK not very high – Uswitch survey
By Andrei Skvarsky. A survey by British price comparison service Uswitch suggests that the average Briton is not too savvy about financial terminology with about one-fifth of the British failing to fully understand the term “pension” and about a quarter not being completely sure what “interest rate” means. Investment jargon is a set of financial… Continue Reading
Interest in cryptos high in U.S., Asia but Europe less excited – Invezz.com
By Andrei Skvarsky. The United States is the country most interested in cryptocurrency and there is wide-scale interest in crypto in Asia but Europe is far less excited, according to online investment intelligence company Invezz.com. India is in second place as regards interest in cryptocurrency, according to an Invezz.com study that evaluated the degree of… Continue Reading
Olga Turischeva hired from VC firm to head Sber University
Sberbank Corporate University (Sber University), an institution belonging to Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank, has a new rector, Olga Turischeva, who has been hired from Russian venture capital firm RTP Global, the bank said in a statement. Turischeva’s record includes jobs at Russia’s search engine Rambler, consumer electronic retail chain M.video and telecommunications company Vimpelcom. Sber… Continue Reading
Sberbank offers support for Serbian exports to Russia
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, has presented opportunities and offered financial support for Serbian consumer goods exports to Russia during an online meeting between a key Russian retail group and Serbian companies. Eight Serbian firms producing fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) presented products to X5 Retail Group during the event, organised by the lender’s… Continue Reading
Russia’s GV Gold plans IPO with Goldman Sachs, Sber, UBS, VTB, Raiffeisen, Sova as bookrunners
By Andrei Skvarsky. GV Gold, one of Russia’s largest gold-mining companies, plans an initial public offering (IPO) of shares with Goldman Sachs, SberCIB, UBS Investment Bank and VTB Capital as joint bookrunners and Raiffeisen Bank International and Sova Capital as co-bookrunners. The stake to be on sale will consist of ordinary shares and will be… Continue Reading
Regulator to use Colombia’s oldest bank in testing crypto transaction models, risks
By Andrei Skvarsky. Banco de Bogota, Colombia’s oldest commercial bank, will test cryptocurrency transaction models and risks in a planned digital pilot project this month organised by the financial regulator of a nation that is one of the world’s main users of cryptocurrencies. A selected group of clients would make digital transfers of money to… Continue Reading
Spain’s Debex auctioneer: bids up 32 pct during 3-month delinquent debt sales
By Andrei Skvarsky. Debex Espana, a Spanish company running online auctions, has sold delinquent debts worth a total of 41.6m euros ($49.4m) over the past three months, according to a statement from its parent group Debex. The debts made up eight portfolios and 33,500 accounts. Bids went up by an average of 32 per cent… Continue Reading
Guernsey Finance rep to promote Guernsey financial services in S. Africa
Guernsey Finance, a public-private agency for the promotion of Guernsey’s financial services industry, has appointed its first dedicated representative to South Africa, giving the role to Grant McLeod, who has had a long career in the African country’s financial sector. McLeod’s duties will include promoting the Channel island’s financial industry not only in South Africa… Continue Reading
Cashless society idea disliked in the West but popular in Asia – MoneyTransfers.com
By Andrei Skvarsky. The idea of complete replacement of banknotes and coins with electronic money is by and large rejected by Western society but has majority support in larger Asian nations, research by the MoneyTransfers.com consultancy and polling company YouGov suggests. Just a quarter of Americans would like the United States to go cashless, according… Continue Reading
EVENTS: March 23-24 Family Office Winter Forum to review investing during pandemic
The Family Office Winter Forum, a virtual event on March 23-24 organised by Opal Group, will address what has happened in family office investment business since the outbreak of COVID-19. What will be the eighth annual event in the Opal-organised Family Office Winter Forum series will go over a variety of topics, including conventional, alternative,… Continue Reading
ActivTrades: Pound’s good showing reflects expectations of ‘big economic rebound’ in UK
London-based broker ActivTrades attributes sterling’s current steady winning of ground from the U.S. dollar and euro to generally successful anti-COVID vaccinations in Britain, which have enabled the government to set a roadmap to lifting COVID-related restrictions by June. The scrapping of restrictions is expected to bring about a “big economic rebound”, an outlook that “is… Continue Reading
EVENTS: Reuters Events webinar on Feb 25 to take up social aspects of ESG investment
A free webinar on February 25 organised by Reuters Events will address social aspects of responsible investment. You may register for the webinar, Integrating the ‘S’ in ESG: Modern Slavery, Conditions of Work and Employment, here. The event starts at 1400 GMT (3pm BST). It is part of the Reuters Events ESG calendar of events… Continue Reading
ActivTrades analyst: U.S. rates unlikely to rise, so dollar likely to edge down
A key analyst at London-headquartered financial brokerage ActivTrades on February 23 reiterated his earlier forecast that interest rates in the United States are unlikely to rise any time soon and that this would make the dollar edge down. “Any hints” to a Federal Reserve plan to raise interest rates in reacting to rising inflation could… Continue Reading
Russia’s Fix Price retailer reaffirms London, Moscow IPO plan
By Andrei Skvarsky. Fix Price, Russia’s largest discount retailer, has reaffirmed a plan for an initial public offering of shares (IPO) in London and Moscow, having hired BofA Securities, Citigroup, J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley and VTB Capital as joint global coordinators and joint bookrunners. The final offer price will be announced when the book building… Continue Reading
ActivTrades analyst: U.S. labour market data likeliest cause of dollar’s Feb 19 drop
The U.S. dollar’s further slide in the morning on February 19 after losses the day before was most likely a reaction to rather bleak statistics on employment in the United States, argues Ricardo Evangelista, senior analyst at London-based foreign exchange broker ActivTrades. According to Evangelista, the greenback’s February 18 dip was attributable to a Federal… Continue Reading
ActivTrades: Fed policy may push dollar further down after currency’s slight setback
A key analyst at London-based foreign exchange broker ActivTrades predicts possible further weakness for the U.S. dollar, which was on the back foot during the start of February 18 trade after winning some ground from other major currencies during the first half of the week. ActivTrades senior analyst Ricardo Evangelista bases his forecast on the… Continue Reading
Russia’s Sberbank stops clients from losing $838m to cyber rogues in 2020 – CEO
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank prevented online fraudsters from stealing 57bn roubles ($838m) from its clients in 2020, a year that saw a dramatic global cyber crime surge triggered by coronavirus, Sberbank chief executive officer Herman Gref said on February 16. “We have achieved the highest level of security in the world,” Gref… Continue Reading
ActiveTrades expects WTI’s Feb 11 price to stay on for a while, is bullish on gold
London-based foreign exchange broker ActiveTrades said it did not believe that WTI oil, after going up for a few days and staying between $58 and $58.50 per barrel on February 11, was currently strong enough for a further rise. However, the price might get a boost from potential future stimulus measures by central banks, according… Continue Reading
RenCap: Russian GDP to grow faster than most analysts expect
By Andrei Skvarsky. Investment bank Renaissance Capital predicts economic growth of between 2 and 6 per cent for 2021 for the majority of former Soviet republics and expects Russia to end the year with a gross domestic product increase of 3.8 percent. The Russian percentage is higher than the consensus forecast, RenCap’s economist for Russia… Continue Reading
EVENTS: Opal-organised online forum on Feb 10-11 to explore Covid effects on investment in U.S. pension system
The Public Funds Summit, a virtual conference on February 10-11, will focus on effects of Covid-19 on investment in the U.S. public pension system. The event has an extensive programme with presentations, panel discussions and plenty of time for networking. Please email the summit organiser, New York-based event management company Opal Group, at info@opalgroup.net for a copy… Continue Reading