Best Trade Bank in Russia/CIS: ING Bank

Runner-up: VTB
Commended: Deutsche Bank
2007 winner: Standard Bank

When the big deals from the ‘Russian front’ are announced, it is pretty much certain that ING Bank has played a key role in bringing them to fruition.

Furthermore, ING has prepared well as commodity prices have spiked. “Over the past two years we have increased our efforts to deepen the product spectrum we offer to our customers and have tried to develop more tailored solutions to their requirements,” says Karin Gregor, Director and Head of Metals in Natural Resources/Structured Metals and Energy Finance at ING.

A well-timed increase in staffing has supported that. “I think we have grown two-fold: first of all, in numbers in order to accommodate the increasing business volume; we have approximately doubled our business volume in the past 15 months. Secondly, we have grown in terms of professional expertise and experience.”

ING has been involved in much of the mega-deals coming out of Russia and the CIS, including the $3.2bn Evraz transaction, Rusal’s bridging loan to enable it to acquire Norilsk Nickel and MetInvest’s $1.5bn debut pre-export finance syndication.

These deals have largely been driven by a frenzy of mergers, acquisitions and consolidation as the resources companies of the CIS have internationalised and are now jostling for top positions in the global market. “In many cases, we have seen CIS groups emerge as market leaders in their industries,” says Gregor.

The way the liquidity crisis is resolved will have a major bearing on the world economy. On the one hand, believes Gregor, it may hamper the growth ambitions of the big commodity producers, especially if a global economic slowdown also affects raw material prices.

On the other, the consolidation and expansion projects that ING has been instrumental in financing do have a sound commercial and strategic rationale, says Gregor. They are not mere vanity projects. If the liquidity crisis continues, it may even work to their benefit as they enjoy a significant cost advantage in the global market.

“Over the past two years we have increased our efforts to deepen the product spectrum... and develop more tailored solutions.”

Karin Gregor, ING Bank