The 15th international Russian Banking Forum took place on the 1st-4th December 2008 at the Marriott Grosvenor Square Hotel in London. The event has once again established itself as the most pertinent international gathering dedicated to the Russian Banking Sector, and despite the current ongoing economic turmoil has proved to be more topical and productive than ever, gathering 250+ participants over three days, with a staggering 85% drawn from top management level.

Over 50 top level speakers delivered presentations at the event, including

• Bella Zlatkis, Deputy Chairman of the Board, Member of the Supervisory Board, Sberbank
• Anatoliy Aksakov, President, Association of Russian Regional Banks, and Member, State Duma and Deputy Chairman of Credit Organizations and FinancialMarkets Committee, Russian Federation State Duma
• Christopher Granville, Managing Director, Research, Trusted Sources
• Konstantin Vaysman, First Vice President, Strategy & Finance, URALSIB
• Liam Halligan, Chief Economist, Prosperity Capital Management
• Alexander Khandruyev, First Vice-President, Association of Russian Regional Banks and General Director, “Banking.Finance.Investment” Consulting Group
• Augusto Lopez Claros who is a former Chief Economist and Director of the Global Competitiveness Programme at the World Economic Forum amongst many others

 PLUS! John McNaughton , Managing Director, URSA Bank gave their first presentation after their merger announcement where he has outlined the case for the merger deal between MDM Bank and URSA Bank to go through.

In addition to the structured programme content, participants also enjoyed the Welcome Diamond Reception on the 1st December with two lucky winners, who found a real diamond in their glass of champagne:  congratulations to Lyudmila Artemova from Rosbank and Andrey Vernikov of Investbank!

On the 2nd December participants enjoyed the Gala Evening at one of London’s historic venues, Guildhall. The focus point of the evening was The Adam Smith Russian Awards Ceremony, which saw winners being awarded for their outstanding contributions to the Banking Sector in the following categories:

• Award for Best New Strategic Direction – Winner URALSIB Financial Corporation, award has been accepted by Konstantin Vaysman, First Vice President, Strategy & Finance
• Award for Individual Contribution to the Banking Sector – Winner: Oleg Viyugin, Chairman of the Board of Directors, MDM Bank
• Russian Banking Sector 'Woman of the Year' – Winner: Bella Zlatkis, Deputy Chairperson, Sberbank
• Award for Outstanding Achievement within the Banking Sector – Anatoly Aksakov, Deputy Chairman of Credit Organizations and FinancialMarkets Committee, Russian Federation State Duma

Click here to view our photo gallery

This year’s Forum features included:

Special Focus Day dedicated to the banking sector in the Russian regions –with presentations from the Association of Russian Regional Banks, Center-Invest Bank, Investbank, URALSIB, EastCapital International amongst many others

SpotMe networking technology – for the first time ever delegates were given an extra opportunity for enhanced networking via the use of SpotMe networking and live polling technology.

Guest Economic Lecture by Augusto Lopez Claros, a renowned economist who shared his view on the global macroeconomic outlook, forecasts for Russia, the long and short term implications of the global financial crisis on the country’s economic environment and the state of banking sector in Russia

Interactive Discussions took place throughout the forum offering delegates enhanced dialog with the speakers and more opportunity to collectively discuss the challenges and come up with solutions to the crucial questions. The discussions included: “Head to Head Investor Panel Discussion” (1st December); “Concluding panel: various business models available in the Russian regions” (1st December); Open Debate and Live Polling, “Investment Banking Discussion: what does the future holds?”

We would like to say a special thank you to all speakers, sponsors and delegates who have made this event possible! Special thank you to the Russian Embassy and Yuri Fedotov, Ambassador of the Russian Federation in the UK for the continuing support of the event

Here are just some of the participants’ comments on the Russian Banking Forum 2008:

“The conference is of great importance for professional communication. Excellent organization and focus on real and actual problems within the banking in Russia”,- Alexander Khandruev, General Director, BFI Consulting Group             

“Excellent opportunities for networking. Very interesting presentations and topics”, -

Andre Sablayrolles, Managing Director, Societe Generale

“An important platform for all market players to share their views and ideas of finding a way out of the crisis”, - Tatyana Lasareva, Executive Director, WestLB

“Taking current crisis in account – it’s excellent”, - Andrey Suchkov, Senior Vice President, VTB Bank

“Very good opportunity to exchange opinions in the period of crisis”, - Sergey Kovtun, Director, Bearing Point

“It’s a great opportunity for opinions exchange in regards to current conditions and future perspectives of the Russian banking sector”, - Iliyas Zaripov, Corporate Finance Director, Energy Standard Group