Dawn raiders turn into gentlemen

When the Soviet Union collapsed, skills were short and contacts were everything. Putting together what they could of both, two young Russians, Vladimir Potanin and Michail Prokhorov, built from scratch Unexim, the country's largest private bank, as well as Interros, a leading financial-industrial group. This rapid growth has led rivals to accuse Unexim of acting unfairly and to wage a propaganda war against the bank. Despite Unexim's success little is known about its inner workings or about the style and strategy of its founders. Recently the bank agreed to open its doors to Euromoney in a way it has never done before. Brian Caplen reports.

Jordan joins the fold

Inside the bank

Potanin plays by the rules

When Vladimir Ryskin joined the fledgling Unexim Bank as head of treasury a few years ago it was like going back to college. He knew almost everyone. They were either former classmates at the prestigous Moscow Institute of Finance, or former workmates at the International Bank for Economic Cooperation (IBEC), or friends among Moscow’s tight-knit social and professional elite.

Unexim is Russia’s nearest equivalent to a blue-blooded bank – like JP Morgan in the US or Deutsche Bank in Europe.

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