Rosbank spruces up for foreign investors

These days the thinking about who to sell a bank to is taking place even as the initial strategy is being thought through. After taking the flak for Unexim’s difficulties during the Russian crisis of 1998, Vladimir Potanin, the president of the financial industrial group Interros, became less than bullish about the banking business. Rosbank emerged as a repository for a lot of Unexim assets but at the outset there was never any intention to develop Rosbank beyond this role. Minds can be changed, however. At some point Mr Potanin had meetings with Citi chairman Sandy Weill and HSBC CEO Stephen Green, during which he was persuaded that a retail bank of the right size in Russia would be an attractive investment proposition for a foreign player. Hence, Rosbank is rapidly expanding its retail network.