The Battle For Russia's Wealth

Russia's answer to J.P. Morgan could not be less like the eccentric, bulbous-nosed original. Vladimir O. Potanin is a shy, athletic man of 35. Holding court in his rosewood-paneled office on Moscow's Masha Poryvaeva Street, the president of Oneximbank quietly gives instructions to two strapping bodyguards at his door. Cool and controlled, Potanin is a standout in a group of dynamic businessmen who have seized huge slices of the economy.

Five years after the fall of Communism, bankers such as Potanin are at the center of a fierce battle for Russia's wealth. Having amassed cash in the chaotic early years of Russia's economic transformation, they have scooped up formerly state-owned oil, mining, forest products, and real estate assets to create sprawling financial-industrial conglomerates that resemble Japan's prewar zaibatsu or today's South Korean chaebol.