Ben Aris spoke to the Russian bank’s CEO about the rationale behind the deal and the outlook for Russia.

Russian banks dominate the top ranks in The Banker’s first analysis of the fastest growing Europeans.

The Moscow Social Card is being used as a pilot to measure the added value of dual interface smart card technology, combining credit/debit and social payments applications on a single card. Wendy Atkins reports on the scheme.

Hungary’s OTP Bank is finally celebrating its profitable privatisation,
with a growing client base that enjoys a variety of sophisticated
access channels. Parveen Bansal talks to deputy CEO Csaba Lantos about the bank’s plans to be a major player in the region.

Western investors should back President Putin in his battle with the
oligarchs, who are likely to block any reforms that would harm their
own interests.

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.