Troika Dialog brand to be retired, Vardanian to head Sberbank investment banking unit
MOSCOW. Jan 23 (Interfax) - Troika Dialog , one of Russia's leading brokerages, will be integrated into the new corporate investment block (CIB) and wealth management block of Sberbank .
"One must understand that Troika Dialog as a brand in the investment banking business will not remain. There is no sense in this. If we want to develop the services of the Sberbank group, it is better to call ourselves Sberbank. An exception might be certain areas of wealth management," Troika Dialog chairman Ruben Vardanian said in an interview with Vedomosti published on Monday.
Sberbank president German Gref said in an interview with Kommersant that the CIB will be headed by his deputy Andrei Donskikh. He will oversee two divisions: the corporate business headed by Alexander Bazarov and an investment bank headed by Vardanian.
"This whole structure will be fully integrated into the Sberbank system. We are now finally polishing up the new name of the company," Gref said.
Sberbank closed the deal to buy Troika on Friday, and the official announcement will be made Monday, Kommersant said.
The Sberbank and Troika financial market operations divisions posted a combined income of more than 22 billion rubles in 2011, Gref said, citing preliminary figures.
"This is despite the fact that last year was, mildly speaking, not the best period for investment banks. The market was extremely difficult. Another factor was the process of integration with Sberbank, very substantial personnel changes, a review of a huge number of processes," Gref said.
