A reminder of the unconventional non-banking background of the CEO of VTB Capital

Not all senior Russian bankers have studied at the Moscow State University and joined a graduate trainee scheme of a major Western bank in London or New York before moving to a Russian bank. Forbes reminds us that Alexey Yakovitsky, the CEO of VTB Capital, was formerly a...journalist.

'A former telecom reporter for the now defunct Bridge News, Yakovitsky had the foresight to jump journalism and became a telecom analyst for United Financial Group.  The firm was later acquired by Deutsche Bank in 2006, where he worked his way up to head of research at the bank’s Moscow branch before joining VTB,' it says.

Forbes also points out that VTB isn't the only Russian bank with big aspirations for growing in the United States. Troika Sberbank is also trying to build its presence in America. For the moment, VTB is the bigger of the two: it has 40 US employees; Troika has 15.