Economics
Russia’s Rich a Target for VTB as Foreign Banks Juggle Probes
- State-owned bank may profit after scandals at foreign firms
- ‘It only takes two days’ to open an account, lender says
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Russia’s state-owned VTB Group has found a silver lining in the country’s economic isolation.
Since financial sanctions and a fall in oil prices pushed Russia into recession 2 1/2 years ago, VTB’s retail arm managed to double the number of high-net worth clients, who avoided the worst of the crisis. Now, the country’s second-largest bank plans to take market share by luring Russia’s rich back home and away from international wealth managers, which are hampered by increasingly complex anti-money laundering regulations.