Dmitry Ivanter has been appointed as the Chairman of VTB Capital Investment Management Executive Committee. The Committee is tasked with the strategic and operational governance of VTB Capital’s Investment Management business, one of the three main arms of VTB Capital’s business.

The VTB Capital Investment Management Executive Committee consists of a Chairman, Global Head of Portfolio Management, Global Head of Private Equity, Global Head of Venture Capital, CFO and COO. Previously Mr. Ivanter was COO of VTB Capital Investment Management. He will retain all COO responsibilities until such time as a suitable successor is appointed.

Under Vladimir Androsik, the Investment Management business increased from RUB 13.6bn in mid-2010 to RUB 79.9bn by the end of 2011, with all business lines growing faster than the market. After a year and a half of successfully leading the Investment Management business at VTB Capital, Vladimir Androsik is transferring to take a strategic leadership role within VTB Group.

Sberbank of Russia and Troika Dialog announce the closure of the deal to merge the two companies. This landmark event signals the creation of the largest universal banking institution in Russia.

The integration of Troika Dialog will enable Sberbank to reach a new level of client service through high-quality financial consultation and a broad choice of investment strategies, underpinned by a full range of modern financial instruments – from the Bank’s traditional credit products to complex investment banking and global markets products. An undisputed regional market leader will emerge as a result of the merger of these two complementary businesses.

As part of the process of integrating Troika Dialog into the Sberbank structure, a new division is being created: the Corporate Investment Bank (CIB) which will provide services to the largest Russian and foreign corporations and financial institutes. CIB will become part of the business unit entitled “Corporate Business” managed by Andrey Donskih, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Sberbank of Russia. Alexander Bazarov, Member of the Management Board, Vice President of Sberbank of Russia and Director of the Corporate Clients Department, and Ruben Vardanian, CEO of Troika Dialog have been appointed Co-heads of CIB.

The second area of business being created as a result of integration is Wealth Management. Wealth Management will include the business areas which focus on selling investment products to private clients, including Asset Management and Private Banking. Ruben Vardanian, Troika Dialog CEO, will head Wealth Management; Bella Zlatkis, Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Sberbank of Russia, will oversee this business unit. The unit’s development plans include the creation of the largest private bank in Russia, leveraging western experience of developing product lines and client service technology.

According to preliminary data for 2011, the divisions of Sberbank and Troika Dialog together generated 22 billion roubles of income from operations made on the financial markets, out of which 8 billion roubles came from securities sales and trading operations, and 6 billion – from conversion operations and precious metal operations. In 2011 investment banking services generated preliminary income of 3.4 billion roubles. The Bank plans to significantly increase income generated by these segments after the teams are unified, which will happen in the immediate future.

Philip Hamilton has been appointed Head of VTB Capital’s Global Fixed Income Flow Sales Group. The Group was formed following the strategic realignment and enhancement of VTB Capital’s Global Markets Sales & Origination structure.

Philip will be responsible for managing and growing VTB Capital Fixed Income flow distribution franchise with Russian and international clients.

Over the last 20 years Philip has had several senior Emerging Markets roles. Prior to joining VTB Capital, Phillip was the Head of EM Product Sales at Goldman Sachs for the CEEMEA region. Before that he was the Head of EM Sales at Merrill Lynch and Dresdner Kleinwort. He also headed trading and sales for ING Barings in London and Asia.

Philip Hamilton will be based in London and will report to Vitaly Bouzoveria, Global Head of Fixed Income.

 Vitaly Bouzoveria, Head of Fixed Income Sales & Trading at VTB Capital, said: “Philip has an extensive experience working for key global financial institutions, with a key focus on Emerging Markets. This appointment will help us to extend our client base and further develop our leadership on global markets”.

Troika Dialog today announces the appointment of Maxim Safonov as Head of Fixed Income, Currencies and Commodities Division. Maxim will join Troika Dialog on January 10, 2012 and reports to Rob Leith, Global Head of Investment Banking and Global Markets.

Maxim brings over fifteen years of experience in investment banking, specialising in Russian capital markets, based in both Moscow and London. Prior to joining Troika Dialog, he was a Portfolio Manager at Finisterre Capital, Emerging Markets specialised hedge-fund, where he was responsible for FX and rates strategies. Prior to that Maxim led HSBC’s efforts to re-establish its presence in Russian financial markets, joining the bank in 2004 as Head of Markets in Moscow, then later moved to London as Regional Head of Trading for CIS where he created one of the strongest regional trading franchises.

He began his career as a fixed income trader at ING Bank in Moscow before rising to Head of Financial Markets and Deputy Chairman of the Board, where he had overall responsibility for the financial markets business in Russia.

Damian Chunilal, Chief Executive Officer, VTB Capital Asian unit

 Damian Chunilal has been appointed as CEO Asia for VTB Capital and will be based in Hong Kong and oversee the strategic development and further acceleration of the company’s expansion in financial markets across Asia.

Mr. Chunilal will report to Atanas Bostandjiev, CEO, UK and International for VTB Capital.

Damian Chunilal has more than 20 years industry experience, including over 19 years in senior roles at Merrill Lynch, both in Hong Kong and London. Prior to joining the VTB Capital team, Damian was a member of Merrill Lynch's Global Operating Committee and a Managing Partner. The business was focused on M&A, capital raising and corporate finance activities with corporate, sovereign and financial institution clients in Japan, Australia, India and Asia. Damian Chunilal graduated from the University of Cambridge, U.K. He holds a master’s degree in Economics.

VTB Capital officially launched its Hong Kong office on 15 November 2011. In June 2011, the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission issued VTB Capital Hong Kong Limited with a license to execute investment banking services. This license permits VTB Capital Hong Kong Limited to undertake dealing and advising on securities activities.

Charles E. Ryan. Chairman, UFG Asset Management

 By Andrei Skvarsky.

UFG founder Charlie Ryan has sealed his reputation as the most successful foreign banker in Russia ever by clinching a deal which nets him a fourth payout from Deutsche Bank. The American banker, who oversaw Deutsche Bank’s Russian operation from 2005 to 2010, is selling Deutsche the remaining 60% stake in UFG’s Capital Management unit that the German lender does not own.

A Harvard graduate, Ryan first came to Russia in the early 1990s as a banker for the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) when he landed in St Petersburg to help advise the local authorities on how best to privatise local municipal assets. One of his key initial contacts in the mayor's office was one V. V. Putin, who was deputy mayor at the time to Anatoly Sobchak.

Spotting a gap in the market, Ryan and a partner Boris Fedorov decided to strike out by setting one of  the country's first ever investment banks.

``Charlie has had the intelligence to understand the Russian political and economic context before positioning, and to pick his partners well,'' commented Eric Kraus, an independent fund manager in Moscow.

 By Andrei Skvarsky.

State-owned bank VTB would benefit seriously during its planned partial privatisation from a share pricing measure proposed by Deputy Prime Minister Igor Sechin, Renaissance Capital analysts argue.

Sechin last week proposed an amendment to the 2011-2013 privatisation programme to ensure that the starting price of a state company in any privatisation deal should not be lower than the firm’s price during its initial public offering of shares. Prime Minister Vladimir Putin asked the government to take the idea into account.

VTB, Russia’s second biggest lender, is trading its shares at half their IPO price of 136 rubles ($4.37 at today’s exchange rate).

“If indeed such a rule [the measure proposed by Sechin] is implemented, it would significantly reduce medium-term stock overhang risk for VTB,” the RenCap analysts say in a comment.

VTB is to have a 25% stake privatised under the programme, and has a 10% stake set to be sold in 2012.

The current market price of Russia's biggest lender, state-owned Sberbank, which is also on the privatisation list, is just 10% below its IPO price of 89 rubles per share ($2.86).

VTB Capital, the Russian state-controlled investment bank, is hoping to arrange "three or four'' IPOs through its new Hong Office next year.

The bank's deputy chairman  Yuri Soloviev said the listings would be in the energy and metals and mining sectors, according to the Hong Kong Economic Journal.

The Hong Kong team will be boosted to between 30 and 35 from today’s seven within the next year or two, according to the Russian firm.

By Andrei Skvarsky.

Wermuth Asset Management, a German fund manager chiefly operating from Moscow, has parted company with its chief executive Maarten van den Belt, three months after another top figure in the relatively small company quit the firm.

Van den Belt, whom Wermuth hired as its CEO in July 2010, has been replaced by Michael Ludwig, who has been a principal in the company since its inception, according to a statement from the firm, which manages funds and advises on alternative investments in Eastern Europe, primarily Russia.

In summer this year John Winsell Davies, a top partner, left for a role with

By Chris Weafer, Chief Strategist at Troika Dialog.

“Money is better than poverty, if only for financial reasons”

Woody Allen Relief at political changes. Markets finished last week with a palpable sense of relief that the political crisis in Europe has been contained and that this may allow for a more determined effort by the new administrations in Greece and Italy to deal with the debt issues.

Nobody can take for granted that the crisis has now been resolved, far from it, but there is greater hope that the worst has passed for now and the “can” firmly kicked into 2012. Coupled with the EU political relief is also the greater sense of optimism that recession in the US can be avoided as recent macro indicators show modest but positive improvement.

The key day to validate or dent that renewed optimism this week will likely be Tuesday as important US and EU data will be updated. Still, given the volatility seen since early summer and the propensity for surprises, the prudent approach remains one of caution even as the respective Greek and Roman Gods of happiness smile on markets at the start of a new week. Better start in Asia. Asian markets reflected the renewed sense of optimism with a strong start to

By Andrei Skvarsky.

Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, plans to sack 30,000 employees or 12.5% of its personnel, thereby following other banks in Russia and worldwide in cutting jobs as the euro debt crisis deepens.

Sberbank chief executive German Gref told Prime Minister Vladimir Putin that the reason why the firm would slash its numbers to 210,000 from 240,000 was increasing computerisation.

Gref broke the news about the redundancy plan in hosting Putin at one of Sberbank’s offices. The premier attended the opening ceremony for a data processing unit into which Sberbank had put about $1.2bn.

Earlier, staff cuts were announced by VTB, Renaissance Group, Otkritie and Merrill Lynch.