Based in the icy wilds of Novosibirsk in the depths of Siberia, Sibacadembank (SAB) has come from nowhere to burst onto the Russian banking scene. The bank has doubled in size almost every year since the 1998 financial crisis and expects to double in size again this year. It is hard to impress Russian analysts with fast growth, but even they admit that the pace of SAB’s rise has been “phenomenal” and they have marked the bank down as the most attractive acquisition target on the market. Its largest shareholder and chairman Igor Kim says he is not selling, but plans to float in about two years’ time.
The last century of Russian history is written all over SAB. Mr Kim’s grandfather was a Korean caught on the wrong side of the line when the Soviets closed the border after the 1917 revolution, and was eventually deported to Kazakhstan during the Stalin terror in 1937.
