Having ignored his banking interests in favour of oil and metals, one
of Russia’s oligarchs has now discovered the cash cow that is retail
banking. Ben Aris writes.
Vladimir Potanin ignored his bank until a few months ago. One of
Russia’s classic seven oligarchs that came to the fore in the 1990s and
the owner of Interros industrial group, he was concentrating on
developing his core metallurgical companies such as Norilsk Nickel.

Funds are rushing to get a slice of Russia’s property pie before the limited supply of top quality buildings dries up. Ben Aris reports.
The leading Russian Trading System index sailed through its all time
high of 571 on October 9 to 637.77. With Russia’s blue chips already
trading at fair value, investors are looking for news ways to get some
exposure to Russia’s ballistic growth. They are turning to real
estate’s high returns and low risk and last month saw the first ever
institutional investment into real estate by a dedicated real estate
fund.

Mortgage deals are pushing demand for mid-priced residential property through the roof. By Ben Aris.

Ben Aris considers the Russian government’s latest move to end the country’s dependence on oil revenue.

Russia’s economy is buoyant but there remain many improvements to be made to the banking system.

Criticism is mounting of the IBRA’s restructuring efforts. But any
assessment must factor in the volatile environment in which the agency
had to operate, says Brian Caplen.

China may have to swallow the unpalatable and seek foreign assistance if it is to remedy its huge non-performing loan problem. Brian Caplen reports.

There is growing concern that Venezuela’s banks are ignoring their
private credit portfolios and relying instead on government paper, says
Mike Ceaser.
What happens when a nation’s banking system loses all of its customers
except one? When that nation is Venezuela, and the customer is the
government, the banks thrive. But the morals of this tactic and its
effect on the nation’s economy are being questioned.“Not having access to international markets, which had a very high cost, the state turned to the internal market”

The lowering of the rand/dollar exchange rate and an increase in assets keeps the country at the top of the pile.