Emerging Europe

Accepting payments from customers in Russia is not always a straightforward process, although interest in the area is growing.

Retreat by western IFIs creates opportunities for smaller multilateral banks, says BSTDB president Dmitry Pankin.

Handing Ukraine’s largest bank back to its former shareholders would amount to economic suicide – but speculation is rising that leading presidential candidates plan to do just that.

State-owned brokerage buys number two lender as total bill for bailouts tops $10 billion.

Fitch sounds the alarm over unsecured consumer lending boom as household incomes stagnate.

Can the combination of core banking system replacement and a pioneering fintech programme help re-privatized lender MKB Bank leapfrog its rivals in the Hungarian market in the race for technological supremacy?

Banks in emerging Europe have long outperformed many of their western peers in the race for digitalization – now a handful of pioneers are taking it to the next level and using technology to transform the banking landscape across the region.

UniCredit regional division head says the UK crashing out of the EU is one of the main external risks to CEE this year.

In 2018, Montenegro was named as one of the countries most at risk from over-indebtedness to China for the €809 million Bar-Boljare highway, dubbed a ‘road to nowhere’, but in Podgorica, enthusiasm for the project is still running high.

A swingeing new bank tax in Romania is inequitable, misconceived and just plain dumb.

The opening up of central Asia’s largest market after a decade of isolation has sparked intense interest in its underdeveloped banking sector among fund managers and regional groups alike.

Court of Appeal backs holdouts in debt restructuring, while investors eye potential for jurisdictional arbitrage.

Local banks shrink FX loan books as recession starts to bite; municipal elections raise fears of further market volatility.

Judge throws out claim in English court; lender on track for first full-year profit since nationalization.

The last thing Russia’s state bank VTB needs is another African mishap.

While others race for scale in the region, Société Générale has become the first of the big regional groups to dismantle its network voluntarily.

Two borrowers beat US pressure by tapping into demand with euro and renminbi sales.

Bulk up, or leave it to those with the finances and the commitment to the region to see if they can make a success of it.

Slovenian, Kazakh governments deliver on privatization promises, while price concerns scupper listing plans of Belarusian retailer Eurotorg.

Five years ago it was a niche player specializing in consumer loans for the elderly – today Sovcombank is one of Russia’s largest privately owned banks, with a clutch of new shareholders from China and the Gulf. What lies behind its remarkable rise?

Britain’s Conservative Party has been at pains to distance itself from the mainstream of European politics in recent years, but seems remarkably comfortable in its murkier shallows.

You wait years for a Balkan bank privatization and then three come along at once.

With new US sanctions looming over Russia and the effects of higher oil prices largely already priced in, will the Russian rouble sink or swim as we approach the end of 2018?

Six months after Polish debt collector GetBack went into default, shockwaves from the event continue to shake the country’s financial sector.

No one is surprised by the money-laundering revelations from the Baltics.

Veteran investor launches financial services firm to capitalize on reforms in Uzbekistan, while HSBC banker tapped to drive sovereign Eurobond debut.

Investment bankers hope for an autumn thaw after a spring freeze.

The transition to capitalism has brought prosperity to much of emerging Europe but left large sections of society struggling to catch up – now Austria’s Erste Group is going back to its roots to bring prosperity to the region through social banking.

Autumn bank refinancing round under scrutiny; analysts warn of US sanctions tail risk.

Can Kazakhstan create an international financial centre in the middle of the steppes or is it just the latest central Asian pipe dream?