Russia has big plans as a financial centre, so why have so many experienced Russian candidates left the country?

Moscow is making a massive investment in its future as a financial centre. Just how massive was underscored this week, when Moscow’s deputy mayor Andrey Sharonov said 90% of Moscow’s city budget this year is being devoted to setting up a financial centre in Moscow.

This was reiterated in a speech by Vladimir Putin, who said Russia’s goals are both realistic and long term. “We are not expecting that in the near future Moscow will become a financial centre on par with London or financial centres in Switzerland or elsewhere,” said Putin. “That’s not the point. The point is that Moscow is naturally evolving into a financial centre, at least for our closest neighbours.”

Russia will first become a regional and then hopefully a global financial centre, predicted Putin, adding that: “About 70% of our non-cash settlements with Belarus are conducted in roubles, and the volume of cash settlements in roubles is also constantly increasing. The rouble zone is expanding naturally. The same can be said for settlements with Kazakhstan.

However, if Russia wants to fulfill its potential, it may need to start attracting young Russians back from overseas. Analysis by eFinancialCareers suggests Russian financial services professionals overseas are highly qualified: 55% have a master’s degree or PhD. The most ‘Russified’ of the international financial hubs appears to be London, which acts as a launch pad for Russian financial services professionals who want to launch themselves further afield – like New York – or return to Moscow. Russian candidates used to be able to work in London comparatively easy under the UK’s immigration programme. However, this has been tightened  recently, making working in the City of London more difficult for Russian candidates.

With the right international experience, Russian financial services professionals who do come back to Moscow after a period away will find themselves highly sought-after. “Western banks in Moscow are looking for candidates aged between 30 and 35 years,” says Elena Popova, head of the Banking and Finance department at the Penny Lane Personnel recruitment agency. Many of them are working internationally.

“When we recruit for candidates with sales experience in derivatives for the Moscow office of a Western bank, we found that practically all the top candidates were based in London and New York,” says Popova.

“With regard to jobs the two key areas where that is a high demand but limited supply of talent, they are in Tax and Revenue or Commercial Analysis sitting within sales parts of the business and helping to drive the both the sales business and the profitability,” adds Alf Harris, director of Michael Page Russia.