Banks with roots in Russia’s regions are starting to overtake those that built their fortunes in the 1990s by playing to the needs of government and oligarchs. The development of Russia’s banking sector is moving into a new phase where geographical reach is as important as size and connections. Moscow and St Petersburg are still the most lucrative markets but UralSib’s strength is that it caters to both big business and the kolkhozy (collective farms) in the interior.
UralSib is the result of mergers between three big banks, but the original UralSib started life as Bashkreditbank, which dominated the oil-rich region of Bashkortostan just north of the Mongolian border and was one of a handful of regional success stories prior to the 1998 financial crisis.
