Search

Russian banks are well on the road to recovery, but the sector is still volatile. THREE YEARS AFTER Russia's banking sector was all but destroyed in August 1998, Russian banks [...]

One of the core banks which have managed to survive the financial meltdown that hit the Russian banking system in Aug 1999 is Alfa-Bank. Although the bank lost about half of its capital, it was able to retain the other half due to what turned out to be a judicious decision to cut exposure to the government paper market. In fact, six months before the Russian banking system finally collapsed, Alfa-Bank had already been steadily scaling back its holdings as it felt the inevitability of a devaluation. Russia's biggest private banking group has been chosen as one of five banks through which billions of rubles in subsidized agricultural credit will be channeled., Spotting survivors is the name of the game in what remains of the Russian banking sector. Bankers and creditors are still sorting through the wreckage left by August's default on [...]

With the international capital markets in so much trouble, investment banks must look further afield for opportunities. Maybe it's time to resurrect those contacts in Africa that were put to [...]