Russia and Ukraine

CFO and acting CEO Viktor Belyakov defends his firm’s strategy amid one of Russia’s biggest corporate dramas this year.

Tinkoff has sold a clever story of another kind of Russian bank.

The IPO of Tinkoff Credit Systems, a Russian consumer finance bank, trounces rivals’ valuations, even as bad debts tick up and tighter regulations loom.

Issuer ‘comes of age’; creates first euro benchmark.

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.

In mid-2013, Rusal had its lowest net debt level since 2008: less than $10 billion, Oleg Mukhamedshin, deputy CEO, tells Euromoney. He says the firm hopes to reduce debt further – from six times ebitda – via internal cashflow, dividends from Norilsk Nickel, assets disposals and new equity issuance.

Incoming governor holds bank’s first press conference; launches new refinancing facility.

Qatar’s investment in VTB helps future deals between Russia and the Gulf, but relations will remain difficult.

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?

Cyprus’s problems stem in part from doing business in Russia. But the Russian state’s attitude doesn’t make keeping money at home enticing.

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.