The financial centres of Bratislava and Moscow attracted the largest volumes of foreign direct investment (FDI) in central and eastern Europe between March 2015 and the end of February 2016: a total of $67.2m for each, according to estimates by fDi Intelligence.
Policy banks were responsible for investments into Slovakia’s capital. The European Investment Bank, the investment bank of the EU headquartered in Luxembourg, opened a new office in Bratislava, while Moscow-based International Investment Bank, the organisation formed by a varied group of countries including Cuba and Mongolia, opened new premises in the city.
On the other hand, FDI into Moscow’s financial centre is of a different nature. Banque Havilland, the wealth manager based in Luxembourg, and Vietnamese lender Military Commercial Joint Stock Bank, plan to expand their businesses with outposts in the Russian centre.
While only in fourth place by capital expenditure, Warsaw stands out for the number of jobs created by inward investments. Just seven projects worth a total of $47.6m are expected to create 1397 new jobs. Goldman Sachs is among investors in the Polish hub as the bank is expanding its technology and operations unit there to provide support to the international sales, trading, banking, investment and research divisions.
Moscow leads the outward FDI table with $191.4m, which was directed to European centres as well as North America and Asia. This figure, however, pales in comparison to Moscow’s previous $716.2m, a drastic reduction that contributed to a generally muted financial services FDI environment across the region.
