Some promising signs for equity capital markets hiring in Moscow

While everyone waits for Putin's big privatisation push in 2013, there are signs that recruitment of equity capital markets bankers in Moscow is already looking up.

Earlier this month, Citigroup appointed Alina Sychova, a former director of Merrill Lynch, as a Moscow-based director of ECM. Tim Harvey-Samuel, head of ECM for EMEA at Citi told Financial News the bank felt it needed a Moscow ECM presence to develop its Russian business further.

It's not clear whether Citi will be hiring additional ECM staff to work with Sychova, but it may need to do so if deals pick up later in the year. So far, there's only been one IPO by a Russia-based company in 2012 (RusPetro).However, Chris Osborne, head of Troika's US business told Bloomberg he expects the number of Russian flotations to pick up sharply in the second half as the high oil price and Moscow bourse’s introduction of a central depositary for foreign investors by July lead to increased foreign investment in Russia.

Interestingly, Sychova, like many senior Russian bankers, has been educated abroad. After attending Belaruski Dzjaržauny Ekanamièny Universitet, she went to the London Business School in the UK.