VTB Cancels New York Forum as U.S. Relations Sour

VTB Capital, the state-controlled Russian investment bank, has canceled its annual New Yorkinvestor forum in April as relations with the U.S. deteriorate over the crisis in Ukraine. The April 8-9 event will be rescheduled “to ensure the availability of keynote speakers and to confirm those dates that will be convenient for the forum’s target audience,” the Moscow-based bank said in a statement. A VTB spokeswoman added the cancellation has nothing to do with politics. VTB Capital, a unit of Russia’s second-largest lender, received a license to trade stocks in the U.S. in 2011 and has the biggest presence of any Russian bank on Wall Street. Its second annual U.S. investor forum last April attracted almost 400 people, including 220 investors and representatives from 28 companies, according to the VTB Capital website. Parent VTB Group’s shares fell 3.1 percent yesterday in Moscow after the Financial Times reported the U.S. is threatening “Iran-style sanction” against Russian lenders if Moscow sends troops into eastern Ukraine. Banking sanctions are one of series of measures the U.S. is considering to isolate Russia economically and diplomatically, the FT reported, citing unidentified congressional aides and officials. Russian President Vladimir Putin said on March 4 he sees no need to invade Ukraine, while reserving the right to deploy the military to defend ethnic Russians in the region. Putin’s troop buildup in Crimea led to the biggest sell-off in Russian stocks for more than five years on March 3 and pulled the ruble to a record low. VTB, headed by former diplomat Andrey Kostin, earned 15 percent of its 2012 revenue outside of Russia, according to data compiled by Bloomberg. VTB Capital is the biggest organizer of Russian equity and bond deals, the data show. Source :  http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-03-06/vtb-cancels-new-york-forum-as-u-s-relations-sour.html