Networking facilities will be a key organisational element of Blockchain Life 2020, the fifth in a series of annual international conferences on blockchain and cryptocurrencies, which is due to be held in Moscow on April 22-23. There will be a special app, Networking 2.0. Afterstating one’s interests when registering at the conference, one will be… Continue Reading
Tag Archives: Russia
Sberbank reports three senior appointments, one stepdown
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, has made two hires to run its business in the health sector, appointed one of its staff members as head of government relations (GR), and is parting company with the head of an investment subsidiary. Both newcomers come from the Russian government. Olga Golodets, a former deputy prime… Continue Reading
Da Vinci Capital passes control of Global Fintech Solutions to Prytek
By Andrei Skvarsky. Guernsey-based private equity company Da Vinci Capital has sold a majority stake in software developer Global Fintech Solutions (GFS) to the Prytek investment firm in what has been described as “one of the fastest exits” in Da Vinci’s history. According to a joint statement from Da Vinci and Prytek, the sale makes… Continue Reading
RenCap: Russia entering time of ‘strong’, stable growth
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital argues that Russia is entering a time of “strong” and stable economic growth and has become a country with splendid investment opportunities. “We expect growth in Russia to more than double to 2.6% YoY in 2020”, which “could surprise the markets”, RenCap economist Sofya Donets has said… Continue Reading
Sberbank replaces CEO of subsidiary running cloud platform for ecosystem
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank has appointed one of its senior managers, Yevgeny Kolbin, as CEO of SberCloud, a subsidiary running a cloud platform for the ecosystem of Russia’s biggest lender. In his new role, Kolbin, who until now has headed Sberbank’s Digital Corporate Bank division, replaces Mikhail Lobotsky, who will stay on in SberCloud as… Continue Reading
Russia’s Sberbank carries through senior staff moves
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank has parted company with Andrei Sharov, its head of government relations, moved head of marketing Vladislav (Vlad) Kreinin to the position of chief growth officer in the unit overseeing the bank’s ecosystem, and promoted senior executive Natalya Dudina to the role of head of human resources. Sberbank has credited Sharov with… Continue Reading
Sberbank, 500 Startups finish second joint accelerator for Russian firms
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank and San Francisco-based venture capital firm 500 Startups have finished the second seed accelerator in a joint programme for Russian technology start-ups. Sberbank invests in companies that take part in the programme. It pledged to put 6m roubles ($97,000) into each of 14 start-ups that were involved in… Continue Reading
RenCap hires Grigory Sedov as global head of private clients
By Andrei Skvarsky. Investment bank Renaissance Capital has hired Grigory Sedov as global head of private clients. As his previous role, Sedov was partner and deputy CEO of Russian investment firm Aton, which focuses on services for wealthy individuals. Sedov will be in charge of expanding RenCap’s range of services for private clients across the… Continue Reading
Silicon Valley’s Fort Ross invests in Kryon to promote business automation in Russia
By Andrei Skvarsky. Silicon Valley-based Russia-focused company Fort Ross Ventures has made an investment in multinational technology firm Kryon that is expected to boost the use of its automation solutions by Russian businesses. Kryon has developed a platform that comprises process discovery and robotic process automation (RPA) tools. The platform is used by companies including… Continue Reading
Sberbank’s intl business to be overseen by Denizbank ex-senior exec Timur Kozintsev
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank International will have a new chief executive as from the start of 2020 with Timur Kozintsev, a former senior figure at Turkey’s Denizbank, replacing Igor Kolomeysky at the helm of the international business division of Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender. Kozintsev was hired by Sberbank in 2013 and, as its director for… Continue Reading
Russia’s Sberbank carries out big promo campaign, sells bonds worth $26.8m
By Andrei Skvarsky. Hundreds of thousands of people took advantage of an annual promotion campaign by Sberbank last month which, besides a bunch of special offers, enabled Russia’s biggest lender to sell bonds worth 1.71bn roubles ($26.8m). There were offers in a wide range of services, including medical treatment, tour operating, car sales and taxi… Continue Reading
Sberbank moves into logistics market via SberLogistics subsidiary
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank, in pursuing a diversification strategy, has moved into the country’s logistics market via SberLogistics, a newly founded subsidiary that has already put in place an extensive nationwide deliveries network and has large-scale near-term development plans. SberLogistics, which is based in Moscow and was set up in May 2019… Continue Reading
Alexander Morozov resigning as Sberbank CFO
By Andrei Skvarsky. Alexander Morozov is stepping down as the chief financial officer of Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender. Morozov will pass over his formal position as CFO to Alexandra Buriko, currently an adviser to Sberbank CEO Herman Gref, as from January 1. However, he will exercise the top oversight of the lender’s financial affairs until… Continue Reading
Sberbank to buy minority stake in MFT tech firm from Gazprombank
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, has signed a preliminary non-binding deal to buy a minority stake in Russian digital projects specialist MF Tekhnologii (MFT) from Gazprombank, another major Russian lender. MFT is a joint venture set up in June 2018 by Gazprombank, oligarch Alisher Usmanov’s USM Holdings, Russian mobile phone operator Megafon, and… Continue Reading
Russia’s Sovcombank sells 85 pc of debut Eurobond to European, US, Asian investors
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s Sovcombank debuted in the global debt market this month with its first-ever Eurobond issue, 85 per cent of which was sold to European, US and Asian banks and investment firms with total demand that exceeded the bonds’ combined face value by more than one-third. Citi, J.P. Morgan, UBS, Sberbank, VTB, Gazprombank, and… Continue Reading
Sberbank says sensational data theft fully solved
By Andrei Skvarsky. The source of last week’s sensational leak of Sberbank credit card details took “hours” to find out, Russia’s biggest lender said in announcing that the theft had been fully solved. The bank said in a statement that the data, which were put on sale in the black market, had been stolen by… Continue Reading
Sberbank’s Lev Khasis confirmed as Rambler chair after stake purchase
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank first deputy CEO Lev Khasis has been confirmed as chairman of the board of directors of Rambler Group after the latter became Russia’s largest media and entertainment company by selling nearly half its capital to the country’s biggest lender. Khasis, who keeps his Sberbank position, will have a one-year stint as… Continue Reading
Russia’s Sberbank hires Anna Kozlovskaya from Mastercard as PR chief
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, has hired Anna Kozlovskaya from Mastercard as head of public relations. Kozlovskaya’s appointment takes effect on October 3, the bank said in a statement. At Mastercard, Kozlovskaya was head of communications for what the New York-based financial services corporation describes as “high growth European markets”, putting, among others,… Continue Reading
Sberbank becomes major player in Russian media market by buying into Rambler
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russia’s largest lender Sberbank has taken ownership of a 46.5 per cent stake in media company Rambler Group in closing a deal that has given birth to Russia’s biggest media and entertainment company. Investment holding company A&NN now owns a stake of the same size as Sberbank’s in Rambler, which runs one… Continue Reading
Five of 1,600 applicant teams to get Sberbank money after passing accelerator filters
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, has selected five out of about 1,600 applicant teams as recipients of funding from it after carrying through this year’s iteration of an internal startup accelerator aimed at grooming technology talent in its midst. The five emergent startups were picked from a nine-team shortlist during last week’s demo… Continue Reading
Sberbank buys into firm digitising Islamic alms collection
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, has acquired a 25 per cent stake in PayZakat, a Moscow-based company that has developed and operates a digital system for the collection and distribution of zakat, alms that are obligatory in Islam and are normally collected in cash worldwide. Continue Reading
Sberbank-Luxembourg govt deal to help Russian hi-tech firms access EU markets
By Andrei Skvarsky. The Luxembourg government is going to help Russian high-tech firms to get established in European Union markets under an agreement of June 7 with Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender. Continue Reading
Sberbank crypto trade plans on ice due to Russian govt’s ‘negative’ position
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank has suspended plans to launch transactions in cryptocurrencies because of the Russian government’s “negative” position on digital money, a top manager at Russia’s biggest lender said last week. Continue Reading
Guernsey’s ITI Funds says deal enables it to avoid crypto market risks
By Andrei Skvarsky. Guernsey-based investment company ITI Funds has said it has entered into a partnership that arms it with a technology to significantly reduce risks inherent in cryptocurrency transactions. Continue Reading
Sberbank’s Gref rules out ‘disastrous’ option of job in govt
By Andrei Skvarsky. Herman Gref, CEO of Russia’s biggest lender Sberbank, has flatly and forcefully ruled out any chance of his return into government, where he spent many years as a key economic reformer earlier on, and said a governmental job would be “the most disastrous ending to my career”. Continue Reading
RenCap rehires Alexander Vengranovich to oversee telecoms research
By Andrei Skvarsky. Alexander Vengranovich, who was a real estate analyst at Renaissance Capital in 2007-2008, has returned to the Moscow-based investment bank, this time as global head of telecoms research. Continue Reading
Russia’s RenCap makes key hire for MENA team
By Andrei Skvarsky. Russian investment bank Renaissance Capital has hired Omar Gaafar, a former senior manager at Egyptian investment company Beltone Financial, as vice-president of the Moscow-based firm’s investment banking service for the Middle East and North Africa. Continue Reading
Sberbank hires ex-MetLife exec to oversee pension subsidiary
By Andrei Skvarsky. Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender, has hired Alexander Zaretsky, a former 15-year-long CEO of the Russian operation of US insurer MetLife, as head of Sberbank Private Pension Fund, a subsidiary running private pension schemes for individuals and companies. Continue Reading
Sberbank: cybercrime to cost companies globally $2.5tn in 2019
By Andrei Skvarsky. According to Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank, cybercrime inflicted total damages of $1.5 trillion on companies worldwide last year and will rob them of another $2.5 trillion in 2019. Continue Reading