Don't worry about the back office cuts at VTB: recruiters say it's still hiring
Fears about cuts to front office jobs at Russia's state-controlled VTB Group may have been exaggerated.
Reports in the Russian press of plans to make 1,500 employees redundant by the end of 2013 in order to trim costs by 20-25% refer largely to back-office roles - according to headhunters.
One Moscow headhunter tells us he knows of several VTB line managers who are looking to build their respective teams and take advantage of the fact that they are one of the few buyers of talent in this market. "They are less constrained by regulatory pressures and institutional concerns from headquarters" he adds. Areas of hiring reportedly include: derivatives, structuring and origination.
"People forget the bank has only been built in the last few years" says Taru Oksman-Ison, founder of emerging markets search firm Riverhouse Partners. "They simply have a lot of pipeline and work and need bodies with the proper experience to execute." she adds.
Atanas Bostandjiev, chief executive of the UK and international business said recently that VTB Capital, is "selectively" hiring investment banking professionals to grow its international staff, "The situation with western banks provides an opportunity to acquire talent that we previously would not have been able to attract" he told Reuters.
VTB should have plenty of opportunity to pick up staff who are let go by rivals. Renaissance Group and Otkritie are among those to have announced redundancies in recent weeks.
