Business Watch
100 days before the start of the Olympics in Sochi, that is, in October 2013, Russia will issue a new commemorative hundred-ruble banknote. The vertically oriented blue bill will be feature a flying snowboarder,said the first deputy chairman of the Bank of Russia Georgy Luntovsky.
VTB attracted a new class of sovereign investor into Russia with a $3.3 billion share sale, whose proceeds the state-controlled bank pledged to invest in expanding its share of the domestic market. Russia's second-largest bank is offering stock at a third of the price at which it floated six years ago, reflecting the impact of the global crash, a troubled acquisition and a costly push into investment banking.
Sberbank Investment Research, the award-winning research division of Sberbank CIB*, is pleased to announce the return of Kingsmill Bond and Andrey Kuznetsov to its team. Kingsmill will return to the company as Chief Strategist, Managing Director, while Andrey rejoins as Strategist, supported by the largest team of analysts delivering cutting-edge analysis on Russia’s capital markets and industries. They will both be based in Moscow, starting shortly, and will report to Andy Smith, Head of Equity Research, Managing Director.
Kingsmill has an unrivalled reputation globally and is widely recognised as one of the leading Russian strategists. In 2010, Kingsmill was ranked the number one Russian strategist by Institutional Investor and the leading Russia strategist by Extel, an accolade he has earned several times. Last year, he was voted the number two Russian strategist by Institutional Investor.
Prior to joining Sberbank Investment Research, Kingsmill held the position of Chief Strategist at Citibank. He previously spent four years as Chief Strategist and Managing Director at Troika Dialog and ten years at Deutsche Bank in a number of research and strategy roles, including Head of GEM and EMEA Strategy between 2004 and 2007.
Andrey also joins from Citibank, where he held the role of Strategist responsible for the delivery of strategy and thematic research across the Russian equity markets. He has over ten years of experience in financial research and analysis, having previously spent four years at Troika Dialog as a strategist on the Russian equity markets desk and five years as an economist in the Treasury Research Department at Sberbank.
Commenting on the two appointments, Andy Smith, Head of Equity Research, Managing Director, said: “We are delighted to welcome back Kingsmill and Andrey to the team. Both have an unrivalled reputation for first-class research, and their wealth and depth of experience to lead our strategy offering will be invaluable. Sberbank Investment Research leads the market, providing clients with timely market analysis and insight into all aspects of Russian capital markets. These two appointments are a huge boost to this proposition.”
This appointment is the latest in a number of senior hires as Sberbank CIB continues to strengthen its broad industry capabilities and enhance its position as market leader. Recent hires include Peter Urbanczyk, Head of FICC Sales Americas, Sberbank CIB USA, Inc. and Managing Director, International FICC Sales Subdivision, Global Markets, Steven Weller as Head of FX Trading, Managing Director, Bill Beller as Head of Equity Options Trading, Managing Director, Robert Hagon as Co-Head of Equity Sales Trading, Managing Director, and Peter Holowka as Head of E-FX, Managing Director, for Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities Division.
Information for Editors:
Sberbank CIB
The Corporate & Investment Banking Business was created as part of the integration of Sberbank of Russia and Troika Dialog. Sberbank CIB’s key areas of activity are corporate financing** , investment banking services, trade operations with securities, and private equity. Sberbank of Russia’s Corporate & Investment Banking Business provides integrated financial solutions and investment advisory services to its clients, which include major corporations, financial institutions, sovereign states and federal and sub-federal government bodies and organisations. Sberbank CIB is part of Sberbank of Russia’s Corporate Business Block.
*On the basis of CJSC “Sberbank CIB”
**Financing provided by OJSC Sberbank
On April 15, 2013, VTB Bank and Russia’s Export Insurance Agency signed a strategic cooperation agreement. The document was signed by VTB Bank President and Chairman of the Management Board Andrey Kostin and EXIAR Chief Executive Officer Petr Fradkov.
By Tim Seymour
Russia is back to November lows on the Micex, and if you ask brokers, it's more like slow death than anything.
A Russian depositor has filed suit for the seizure of all assets in Russia belonging to Laiki Bank of Cyprus, including its controlling stake in Russia’s Rosprombank, which may now hamper a Cypriot plan to sell off the shares.


