strongFinancial News/strongbr /br /Jason Corcoran br /br /emLetter from Moscow - January 4, 2009/embr /br /Letters to Father Frost, the Russian equivalent of Santa Claus, have been stacking up well ahead of the Orthodox Christmas Day on January 7.br /br /This year, the postal service in Moscow’s Kuzminki district reported an unusually high level of correspondence from adults who wish for a new job or help with meeting credit payments.br /br /However, grown-ups looking for personal bailouts may be better served popping a letter in the mail to Vnesheconombank, the state development bank, which has come to prominence during the financial crisis as the Kremlin’s main piggy bank.br /br /VEB, which traces its genesis back to the October 1917 revolution, was originally responsible for managing Soviet-era debt. It was transformed two years ago into a development agency to spearhead efforts to diversify Russia’s economy but has only recently come to ...

Dow Jones Newswires and Financial News br /br /Jason Corcoran in Moscowbr /08 December 2008 br /br /br /Deutsche Bank is cutting 30% of staff from its global markets division in Moscow where it has been the biggest and most successful bulge bracket bank during Russia's capital markets boom.br /br /Up to 30% of its Moscow-based global markets staff are expected to lose their jobs, double the proportion of employees being cut across Deutsche Bank's global markets business as part of a worldwide redundancy programme.br /br /Bankers working in sales, trading and research in Moscow were made redundant last week with more layoffs expected this week, according to two sources inside the bank.br /br /One said: "We have been told 30% has been earmarked across the board." The second said: "Ten of the research guys have gone."br /br /A Deutsche Bank spokesman in Moscow said the job losses represented 2% ...

strongFinancial News/strongbr /br /Jason Corcoran in Moscow br /08 December 2008 br /br /Increasing competition from new entrants and sharp falls in equity prices are driving down the margins of Russia’s sub-custody banks.br /br /The recent arrivals of Sweden’s SEB and France’s Société Générale, plus the increasing participation of Russian banks such as VTB and Gazprombank, are forcing fees downward but bringing greater segmentation and opportunities for niche providers.br /br /Natalia Sidorova, head of securities services at ING Wholesale Banking in Moscow, said: “Margins are decreasing, which is inevitable in a busy market like Russia driven by competition. Fees used to be about 20 basis points but have come down significantly in recent years.”br /br /Serhiy Berezhny, head of trust and securities services at Deutsche Bank, agreed but said high fees could still be charged depending on the volume of client assets. br /br /He said: “Different clients are ...

strongFinancial News/strongbr /br /Jason Corcoran in Moscow br /28 November 2008 br /br /br /Swedish fund manager East Capital has cut its personnel by a fifth following a 70% slide in its core equity market of Russia over the past two months.br /br /The 40 jobs cuts from East Capital's overall headcount of 225 indicate how the financial crisis in Russia is spreading from investment banks to the buyside. br /br /The Stockholm-based manager said 20 jobs in Sweden would be affected and the remainder in its international offices in Moscow and elsewhere in the CIS. br /br /A statement from East Capital said: "Like many others in these turbulent times, we are carrying out an organisational review…We need to adapt to the new reality."br /br /Hedge funds operating throughout Russia and the CIS are cutting their headcounts and slashing costs following sharp falls in equity prices and increases ...

strongThe Guardian - Comment is Free /strongbr /br /emA slide in the value of Russian currency has led many to cash out their modest savings and punt for either dollar or eurobr / /embr /br /strongBy Jason Corcoran/strongbr /br /guardian.co.uk, Wednesday November 19 2008 20.00br /br /The financial crisis is quickly transforming Russia into a nation of desperate currency speculators due to a slide in the rouble's value and a deposit run gathering pace at the banks. br /br /For many ordinary Russians, it's a game of roulette as they cash out their modest savings and punt for either dollar or euro.br /br /The cards are stacked in favour of a dollar bet as Russians have a love affair with the greenback dating back to last financial crisis in 1998, when a rouble devaluation wiped out their savings. br /br /Pensioners tuning into national TV last week may well ...

Financial NewsJason Corcoran in Moscow and Harry Wilson17 Nov 2008 Moscow-based investment bankers are at the sharp end of job cutsRussian index slumpsIt seems like a different age, but it was only recently that Moscow-based investment bankers had firms fighting to secure their services and could command pay packages commensurate with demand.Senior Moscow-based bankers and those covering the Russian markets asked for and got lucrative pay deals as local brokers and large international investment banks fought a hiring war to build their businesses in the country.Guaranteed packages in excess of $10m (€7.8m) were not unheard of and even junior staff with experience of the Russian markets received $1m guarantees to join rivals.In early 2007, Russian investment bank Alfa-Bank recruited the head of UBS’ Moscow office Ed Kaufman for a ...

Financial NewsJason Corcoran in Moscow17 November 2008 Energy company has been hit by governance failingsThe crash in Russian equities has exposed serious risks for minority shareholders, despite an amelioration in the country’s corporate governance over the past few years.The growth of Russian capital markets and the recent boom in initial public offerings has led to an improvement in corporate governance and accounting practices among the blue chips, but violations continue in the small to medium tier. A number of Russian utility companies that were spun off from the electricity monopoly have been particularly affected.A group of 15 minority shareholders in power generator TGK-4 last month wrote to President Dmitry Medvedev claiming Onexim Group, an investment firm owned by Russian billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, had exerted pressure on Russian officials to act in Prokhorov’s interest after Onexim agreed to buy it ...

Financial NewsJason Corcoran in Moscow10 November 2008 The closure of a Russian hedge fund run by Florin Investment Management has led to fears many more could go under as investors flee emerging markets.It is estimated about 70 hedge funds are operating in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States and analysts predict over half will be wiped out by next year.The closure of Florin FSU Credit Opportunities Fund, which was invested in real estate and equity collateralised debt, led to 10 lay-offs at the firm in Moscow and London.Florin’s principals Neil Smith and Aidan Freyne are hoping to buy the fund’s architecture from its shareholders at Trust Capital and relaunch the fund as a distressed assets vehicle.Smith was previously head of alternative investments at the UK’s Morley Fund Management while Freyne spent 19 years with Salomon ...

Financial News Jason Corcoran in Moscow10 November 2008 A merger of Micex and RTS is more likely following the exodus of €108bn in foreign capital since AugustRybnikov: suspensions must stop Moves to merge Moscow’s two stock exchanges, modernise market architecture and improve long-term liquidity have been given impetus following Russia’s worst trading collapse since the sovereign default in 1998. The frequent closures of Moscow’s two main trading platforms have led many investors to switch to trading Russian Global Depositary Receipts and Russian American Depositary Receipts in London and New York.Some 23 suspensions of trading on the rouble-denominated Micex since early September have contributed to a two-thirds slide in the volume of trading and an exodus of investors.Micex chief executive Alexei Rybnikov hopes the suspensions will become a ...

Wall Street Journal EuropeBy Jason Corcoran in Moscow 30 October 2008Moscow -- THE LONDON Stock Exchange Group PLC has dropped a plan to open an office in Moscow after the financial crisis wiped out the prospects for Russian stock issuance for at least 12 months.The decision to call off the Moscow office was taken after a group of companies in Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States pulled stock listings amid a plunge in stock markets. Until recently, Russia had been seen as a possible source of growth for the larger exchange, which is facing competition from new rivals.Jon Edwards, director of CIS and Central and Eastern Europe at the LSE, said the exchange had given the green light for the opening of a Moscow office before the country's economic crisis began in August. "We pulled plans to open in Moscow ...