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Emerging markets: special focus
VTB shifts focus from investment banking to retail – CEO Kostin
December 2013
CEO Andrey Kostin of the Russian state lender eyes investment banking cuts and a cap on its private-equity business, amid a more mature phase of growth in the heavily-competitive domestic market.
State majority in VTB could end from 2016, says CEO Andrey Kostin
December 2013
The CEO of VTB reveals the Russian government could see its stake in the lender diluted if it does not subscribe to a new round of capital-raising in the coming years, as he defends the bank’s state-backed business model and claims majority ownership is not necessary for sovereign support of the country’s second-largest bank by market cap.
Sberbank reaffirms investment-banking push
December 2013
The co-head of commercial and investment banking at the Russian state lender says aggressive growth continues after the departure of Todd Berman, head of investment banking.
RenCap says cost-cutting over as Africa focus pays off
December 2013
The emerging markets-focused bank says 2013 operational profit is ‘a major achievement’, with 50% of revenues from Africa, boosting the lender’s diversification strategy after a volatile restructuring.
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| Alexander Bazarov, Sberbank |
Russia’s next-generation investment banks muscle in
December 2013
A new generation of firms are seeking market share from more established players in an already crowded investment-banking scene.
Russians play commodities as US banks retreat
December 2013
VTB builds paper trading, considers physical; Sberbank launches Zurich financing unit.
November 2013
Tinkoff has sold a clever story of another kind of Russian bank.
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| Alexander Merzlenko, RenCap |
October 2013
Issuer ‘comes of age’; creates first euro benchmark.
Russian banks play truth or dare
September 2013
During the past three years, Russian banks have plastered over holes in the corporate sector with record profits from retail. The choice now might be between fuelling a bubble or stagnation.
Qatar and VTB: Kindred spirits in Russia and the Gulf
June 2013
Qatar’s investment in VTB helps future deals between Russia and the Gulf, but relations will remain difficult.
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| Nikolay Katorzhnov, Otkritie Capital |
Sberbank: Gref’s great expectations
May 2013
Sberbank CEO German Gref says he has led Russia’s biggest bank through a thorough transformation. It has grown onto the international stage and bulked up in investment banking. What are his objectives, and how does he see its role at home and in the region?
Bank reform key to boosting Russia economy as commodity cycle shifts
May 2013
Russia’s largely state-owned banking sector needs greater competition to help catalyze private sector investment as the economy enters a new era of permanently weaker growth and lower oil prices, say analysts.
Russia’s top banker Gref backs independence of new central bank governor
April 2013
Sberbank chief German Gref, who – as the former economics minister – was the boss of Central Bank of Russia governor-designate Elvira Nabiullina, says the bank’s dominance in the country’s economic affairs won’t exert undue influence over monetary policymaking.
Debt capital markets: Russia and Turkey boost local-currency Eurobonds
March 2013
Internationally marketed local-currency issuance has become the latest twist to a booming emerging market bond market. Russian and Turkish banks and corporates are playing a leading role, issuing new Euroclearable, foreign-law bonds in roubles and Turkish liras.
Russia: Rosneft baits the debt markets
January 2013
Buy now while stocks last! That seemed to be the sales pitch in a $3 billion debut Eurobond from Russian state-owned oil firm Rosneft late last year.
Sberbank fights back for the countryside
January 2013
There are good strategic reasons for Sberbank to be concerned about the growth of such operations as Tinkoff and Home Credit: and good reason for a counter-attack.
January 2013
Oleg Tinkov is at the forefront of the consumer-banking boom that is changing Russian finance. Tinkoff Credit Systems encapsulates all that is innovative – and risky – about the sector. This bank and others like it have everything the state banks lack. But in Russia that can mean trouble.
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Russian capital markets: What’s driving change?
January 2013
The Russian government’s desire to build an international financial centre in Moscow is genuine. However, the government’s market infrastructure reforms are also driven by other short-term and long-term motivations.
Russia’s new market infrastructure takes shape
January 2013
A central securities depository, liberalization of the local bond market, movement to T+2 settlement and a stock exchange merger – it’s all very welcome in Russia’s capital markets. But work remains to be done if its infrastructure is to catch up with its peers.
Restructuring: VTB prepares for more CEE debt-for-equity deals
January 2013
Struggling companies in central and eastern Europe can hope for new investment from VTB Capital this year, particularly via debt-for-equity restructurings.
Prokhorov takes control of Renaissance Capital
December 2013
Mikhail Prokhorov’s Onexim Group is taking control of Renaissance Capital, the billionaire’s holding firm announced in November. Although the investment bank will not change its name, the acquisition ushers in a new era for RenCap.
Banking: Russia’s sub-debt boom
November 2012
A wave of lower tier 2 issuance will not deal with Russian banks’ strained capital levels.
Russia: Markets welcome Euroclear approval
November 2012
Euroclear Bank has been granted access to Russia’s central securities depository, opening the way for a substantial step-up in foreign participation in the country’s domestic bond market.
Emerging Europe: Sberbank offering lifts ECM hopes
October 2012
Russia’s biggest lender, Sberbank, sold $5.2 billion of stock in a secondary offering in Moscow and London in mid-September – its first international listing. The deal reduced the central bank’s stake in the bank to 51%.
Russia: Otkritie-Nomos merger fires controversy
September 2012
Moscow’s financial community has been abuzz in recent weeks with news of Otkritie Financial Corporation’s proposed takeover of Nomos Bank. But the deal is not without its critics.
Russia’s first perp boosts VTB’s tier 1 ratio
September 2012
VTB’s $1 billion perpetual bond this summer – the first in Russia – was partly modelled on a similar issue by Banco do Brasil in January, says Herbert Moos, VTB’s CFO.