Financial News at Sibos September 16, 2008A series of setbacks has raised questions over whether Moscow could rival other centres and whether the rouble could become a reserve currency, writes Jason Corcoran The credibility of Moscow's ambition of becoming a global financial centre within five years has been called into question following a summer of systemic shocks to investor confidence and the arrested development of its market institutions.Highly liquid domestic markets, strong economic growth and a position at the heart of a booming region have contributed to the rapid growth of Russia's capital markets over the past decade.The dual government of President Dmitry Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin have a blueprint in place for building Moscow's position as a financial hub. Some institutions, especially the Federal Anti-Monopoly (FAS) commission, have grown in stature due to its recent ...

Business New Europe Jason Corcoran in Moscow September 1, 2008Andrei Movchan, founding chief executive and co-head of Renaissance Investment Management (RIM), is banking on his bulging Rolodex of rich clients to help his firm emerge from the long shadow cast by its investment banking stable-mate, Renaissance Capital. RIM, the emerging markets fund arm of the Moscow-based financial group, has racked up $7bn in assets under management since its inception of 2003, with $5bn in assets being generated by its wealth management business, where individual accounts range from $3m-5m. This significant proportion of high net worth clients is in contrast to the more modest growth in mutual funds, where RIM manages just $200m. Conversely, rival Troika Dialog Asset Management has a total of $10bn in assets under management in retail, ...

Financial NewsJason Corcoran in Moscow and Dawn Cowie21 July 2008 Russian bank Troika Dialog has made hires for its private banking and derivatives sections as it forecasts revenue growth of 35% for its global business in as little as three years.Troika has recruited Renaissance Investment Management’s head of wealth management Alexey Ischenko as part of big push in private banking. Pavel Teplukhin, Troika president and chief executive of its asset management arm, said: “Business is booming. We plan to expand our 20-strong private banking sales team by a factor of 10 within four years.”Troika manages in excess of $10bn (€6.3bn) in institutional, retail and government funds, while rival Russian bank Renaissance manages $6.5bn mainly for high net worth individuals and has recently lost five of its senior fund management executives. Renaissance said it was formulating a strategy to ...

Financial NewsJason Corcoran24 June 2008 Renaissance Investment Management's leading wealth management executive is leaving the Russian fund manager to join Swiss private bank Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch in Geneva.Alexander Kotchoubey, who joined Renaissance Investment Management as wealth management head and deputy chief executive, is the fourth senior executive to leave the Moscow firm in six months and follows the departure of its president Ilkka Salonen in May, chief investment officer Daniel Broby in March and the head of its Swiss operation Philippe Magistretti last December.Kotchoubey will join Lombard Odier in the next couple of weeks as head of international development for Russia and Eastern Europe.He said: "We are in the process of building a team for the region based in Geneva. Lombard Odier recognises the opportunities of expanding its franchises in emerging markets. They have a very aggressive view ...

Financial NewsJason Corcoran in Moscow23 June 2008 Investment climate is steady as new leader continues reform agenda Russia’s equity markets are enjoying the country’s honeymoon period under its new leadership, but investors remain wary of how the power-sharing arrangement will evolve.The changing of the guard on May 7 saw Vladimir Putin hand over the presidential mantle to his protégé Dmitry Medvedev. Within hours, Medvedev had nominated his mentor Putin as Prime Minister.The smooth choreography proved to be a fillip for Russia’s main stock markets and sparked a buying spree by foreign funds.The MSCI Russia Index was the best performing emerging equity market last month, rising 15.7%, and outperforming the MSCI EM Emea index, which rose 7.3% in the same month. Inflows recorded in the third week of May of $542m (€350m) were the highest in Russia ...