neximbank Has Connections and Influence Everywhere.

From Russia Today press summaries
Sankt-Peterburgskye Vedomosti
August 28, 1997

Summary

Uneximbank has emerged as the country's leading private bank, not only in terms of capital but in terms of popularity, said the daily.

After all the commotion this summer, there is hardly a person alive who has not heard the name Uneximbank. Even the Western press has devoted a lot of space to the bank. The Financial Times and the New York Times call it the most influential financial-industrial group in Russia, and one that will soon be able to compete with the leading American, German and Japanese companies.

At the beginning of this year, Ueximbank only had assets of 21 trillion rubles ($3.5 billion). But it also owns a large part of the Rossos financial-industrial group, which in turn owns 24 companies that have a sales volume of $10 billion annually.

One wonders, the daily wrote, how such a mighty financial industrial concern was created while the Russian economy collapsed.

Uneximbank's head, Vladimir Potanin, had previously worked in the Soviet Foreign Trade Ministry. In 1991, he created his own bank, the Amalgamated Export-Import Bank, the name of which was eventually shortened to Uneximbank. Using his contacts in the government, Potanin bought up shares in the most profitable Russian companies, most of which were in oil and non-ferrous metals.

Contacts are the key here, said the daily, and it is recognized that there is no one in business as well connected as Potanin.

RUSSIA TODAY Notes:
While the true size of Russia's banks is not known because of the extent of the shadow economy and massive tax evasion, Uneximbank is often ranked as the country's largest private bank, and third or fourth largest bank overall. The state-owned Sberbank is the largest. To conceal their true worth, many banks and companies hold their assets in subsidiaries, primarily located abroad. For instance, Uneximbank did not buy the recent 25 percent share in telecom holding Svyazinvest outright. It did so through a Cyprus-based company that it created specially for the deal. Also, Uneximbank's leading contact is with First Deputy Prime Minister Anatoly Chubais. They have a close relationship that is mutually beneficial. Potanin wants to control the Russian world of business, and Chubais wants to have that economic power serve the party of reform to defeat the opposition, especially in the presidential elections in the year 2000.