Troika is no more. As the Moscow Times pointed out this week, the bank has finally been subsumed by Sberbank and won’t even get to keep its name

"Troika Dialog will not remain as a brand in the investment-banking business," Troika co-founder Ruben Vardanian was quoted as saying. "If we want to develop the services offered by the Sberbank group, it's right that we are called Sberbank."

Where does this leave people who want to work for a bank that isn’t owned by the state?

Somewhat out in the cold.

The state owned banks look like the big hirers now

The state-owned banks are in growth mode. Sberbank-Troika recently hired Maxim Safonov from hedge fund Finisterre Capital as one of a string of recent high profile recruits.  Safonov was apparently tempted by Sberbank’s size. "I don't know whether Troika had enough of a book to work with a guy like Maxim," an acquaintance told the Moscow Times. "But Sberbank does."

Sberbank has set ambitious targets. It intends to, “ consolidate and expand” its leading position, “in both Russia and the CIS in the next two to three years,” and, “to become one of the top 15 global players in terms of debt securities, currency, and commodities operations in the next five years."

And if you don’t want to work for Sberbank? You can always try VTB. The other government owned bank is expanding internationally and has already started building out in the Middle East. It too aims to become a big international player. 

The alternatives

Now that Troika’s been subsumed, what are the alternatives if you don’t want to work for a state-bank?

There’s Otkritie, but Otkritie has been making redundancies and cancelled its IPO.

There’s Renaissance Capital, but Renaissance Capital cut 10% of its staff last year and doesn’t appear to be in growth mode.

Or there are the international banks. But firms such as Nomura and RBS are pulling out of Russia and others may not be hiring. Foreign banks don’t consider it “prudent” to be hiring at the moment, an Alfa Bank analyst told the Moscow Times.

For the moment, therefore, it looks like the Russian state is the big banking employer in town. Troika bankers who want to try their luck elsewhere may be obliged to stay put.