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Originally Posted by lunecat
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Lucent, you didn't answer my question. And it's not the first time, by the way. All you do is keep posting the
same BBC article with a silly picture of a man in WWII uniform.
Rich Russian banks to buy European rivals
The purchase of major EU bank, B.M.P.S. by a Russian counterpart could mark the start of a shopping spree by the country’s cash-rich banks.
VIDEO -
http://www.russiatoday.ru/business/news/24055/video
On Wednesday influential business daily Milano Finanza reported that a Russian consortium is eyeing the French and Belgian operations of Banca Monte dei Paschi di Siena SpA.
Observers believe only VTB or Sberbank has the resources to buy the assets put up for sale by the Italian major.
Experts think cash-rich Russian banks will not be able to resist the temptation to purchase European banks. The current credit crisis provides all the conditions for such deals: EU banks have become relatively cheap, while Russia's banks are full of cash.
However, some banking analysts do not see the logic for Russian banks to buy abroad. “I think the priority for any Russian bank’s management must be first to focus on the domestic market,” an expert from global investment bank Lehman Brothers said.
http://www.russiatoday.ru/business/news/24055
From Bloomberg:
The world's biggest banks are advising their clients to load up on Russian rubles
The world's biggest banks are advising their clients to load up on rubles in a bet that one of the first things Dmitry Medvedev may do after he's sworn in as Russia's president this week is to allow a stronger currency.
Merrill Lynch & Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Deutsche Bank AG predict gains of as much as 4 percent in the next six months. They say pressure will mount on the central bank to let the ruble appreciate to stem inflation even if it risks damping profits of oil and energy exporters, which according to Merrill Lynch fund more than half of the federal budget.
The last time Bank Rossii, which must submit proposed changes in monetary policy to the government, allowed the ruble to strengthen was in August, when the inflation rate was 8.5 percent. It's now 13.3 percent, five times the average of the Group of Seven industrialized nations. Two interest-rate increases this year failed to restrain consumer prices, and Russia ``isn't ruling out'' letting the ruble gain, Bank Rossii Deputy Chairman Alexei Ulyukayev said April 24.
``Ruble appreciation will continue to be a key anti- inflation tool given the limited domestic monetary instruments the central bank has at its disposal,'' said Ramin Toloui, a senior vice president at Newport Beach, California-based Pacific Investment Management Co., which manages more than $800 billion. ``That favors continued ruble appreciation.''
The central bank sets the price of the ruble against a so- called currency basket made up of 0.55 dollars and 0.45 euros.
It let the currency appreciate against the basket three times last year by a total of about 1.3 percent. The ruble was at 36.7684 per euro and 23.7601 per dollar at 9:18 a.m. in New York.
Surging Growth
Russia, the world's biggest energy exporter, has expanded an average of about 7 percent a year since President Vladimir Putin, 55, took office in 2000. During that time, the price of oil has risen almost fivefold to a record $119.93 a barrel. The economy will grow 6.6 percent this year, more than five times the 1.2 percent average of the G-7, according to Merrill Lynch.
Medvedev, 42, and the central bank are faced with the challenge of maintaining growth while stemming inflation. Consumer prices have surpassed the government's target every year since 2003.
Bringing down the inflation rate ``is one of our biggest priorities,'' Putin said during his annual press conference on Feb. 14. Putin will become responsible for the economy when he assumes the role of prime minister on May 8, the day after Medvedev's inauguration.
`Doing Everything' ....
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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...refer=currency