In a sign that an aggressive recruitment drive is paying off, VTB Capital, the investment division of state behemoth VTB, has been named the most innovative investment bank in Central and Eastern Europe by the respected Banker magazine.
The Banker, a London-based monthly owned by the Financial Times, presented VTB Capital with the 2013 award at a London ceremony.
"For us it is very important that VTB Capital's success has been recognized and appreciated by the professional community," Alexei Yakovitsky, global CEO of VTB Capital, said Friday in an e-mailed statement.
VTB Capital has embarked on a fierce recruitment drive in recent months, jostling with state-owned rival Sberbank CIB as they both scramble to poach talented bankers from rivals.
Just last week, VTB Capital announced that it had appointed Jason Fung, who had worked at Credit Suisse since 2006, as head of its Asia financing structuring department based in Hong Kong. Days earlier, the bank appointed Vladimir Kolychev, chief economist and head of research at Rosbank, owned by France's Société Générale, as its new chief economist for Russia.
Moscow-based VTB Capital has emerged as a leading investment bank in Russia after attracting more than $183 billion in investment to this country since its establishment in 2008. It is one of three divisions of VTB, with the other two being corporate and retail banking.
The bank saw a large turnout of investors at its annual Russia Calling! investment forum this week in Moscow, and its keynote speakers included President Vladimir Putin.
Among the other accolades that VTB Capital has received this year are the Euromoney Award for Excellence 2013 in the "Best Investment Bank in Russia" category, the bank said. In February, VTB Capital was named "Best Investment Bank in Russia" and "Best Investment Bank in Central and Eastern Europe" at Global Finance magazine's World's Best Investment Banks awards.
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