On the evening of December 4, representatives of the best of the private banking and wealth management industry were announced at the SPEAR’S Russia Wealth Management Awards held at Moscow’s Mossovet Theatre. This was the sixth ceremony for the Awards. The event was once again hosted by Ivan Urgant. The Bank of Moscow received the accolade as Best Russian Bank, while Rietumu Banka was named the first private bank in the Baltic States and the CIS for the third year in a row. Among foreign private banks, the Judging Panel also singled out Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen and Goldman Sachs: the former, as the best foreign bank in Russia, and the latter, as the best bank serving HNW Russians abroad. Promsvyaz Asset Management was named Best Asset Management Company, Absolut Private Bank – the main startup of the year, and CONFIDERI Advisory Group was honored as the best family office. EY was recognized as Tax Consultant of the Year and YUST as Legal Consultant of the Year. Among the personal nominations, the winners were Roman Avdeev from Credit Bank of Moscow (“Banker of the Year”), Vasiliy Sofiyskiy of Sberbank Private Banking (“Investment Consultant of the Year”), Slava Rabinovich of Diamond Age (“Speaker of the Year”), and Marina Sitnina of Gazprombank (“Art Consultant of the Year”). Irina Kokoreva (Credit Suisse) and Dmitry Klenov (UFG Wealth Management) were named, respectively, Lady and Gentleman of the PBWM industry.

The best representatives of the private banking, wealth management and other similar industries will be announced during the SPEAR’S Russia Wealth Management Awards. The names of the winners will be officially made public on 4 December at the Mossovet Theatre in Moscow. The first Awards stage during which industry professionals cast their votes was completed on 14 November. The results will be verified by PwC – the SPEAR’s Russia Awards’ independent consultant – and then processed to generate short lists in each category. The final selection will be made by a judging panel headed up by the Editor-in-Chief of SPEAR’S Russia Andrei Vdovin. It is already known that in selecting the best of the best he will be joined by the Head of the WATCH Russia project Alexander Gafin, a senior partner at the GHP Group Mark Garber and the Executive Director of the Non-State Pension Fund Blagosostoyanie Yuri Novozhilov. All of the panel members and short lists will be announced by the Awards organisers on 24 November. The names of the winners will be made public only ten days after during the award ceremony, which will be traditionally hosted by Ivan Urgant. The event’s new slogan is Life is Rich. The slogan makes a reference to a simple thought that the life of key protagonists of this celebration is a complex blend of very different vocations and at times it is difficult to imagine that they could be grouped in one bundle: from creating new structured notes at noon to embarking on a journey around the world on the same night, and from a game of golf with a client to obtaining a ‘membership card’ granting access to the Vatican’s archives.

The first closed-door meeting of SPEAR’S Club members took place on 9th October 2014 at the prestigious 5-star ArArAt Park Hyatt hotel in Moscow. The session devoted to ‘deoffshorization’ was hosted by SPEAR’S Russia Editor-in-Chief Andrei Vdovin and first vice-president of the Federal Chamber of Attorneys Yuriy Pilipenko. Guests of the evening – key masterminds of the Russian private banking & wealth management industry – debated over the meaning and consequences of the actions undertaken by the Russian government.

“We launched the new format of meetings for the magazine audience,” comments Andrei Vdovin. “SPEAR’S Club is meant to become a discussion platform equally appealing both for Russian HNWIs and professionals of financial, legal and many other industries catering to highly affluent individuals. Our goal is to inspire participants for highly informative debates.”

Each meeting of the Club will be devoted to one predetermined topic. In order to maintain lively discussions ‘open microphone’ and ‘soft moderation’ policies were introduced.

The Organizing Committee of SPEAR’S Russia Wealth Management Awards 2014 is pleased to announce the start of the preparatory stage of the Awards. From 10 September until 2 October, all interested organizations and individuals will have an opportunity to nominate themselves or other organizations and individuals by filling out special applications, which will be available at the Awards website. The final list of nominations and nominees will be published on 14 October. From 16 October until 30 October, the Organizing Committee will be collecting votes of professionals from private banking, wealth management and related industries in order to determine the nominee short list. After the approval of PwC, the Independent Consultant of the Awards, the official short list will be announced. At the final stage, the Judging Panel of the Awards headed by SPEAR’S Russia Editor-in-Chief Andrei Vdovin will determine winners among short-listed candidates. The winners of SPEAR’S Russia Wealth Management Awards 2014 will be unveiled on 4 December at the Mossovet Theatre in Moscow. SPEAR’S Russia Wealth Management Awards – first annual award ceremony held to celebrate the achievements of professionals and firms from private banking, wealth management and related industries.

The new Glenlivet Hunters’ Club was officially unveiled during a presentation that took place on 26 June at the “Russian Seasons” restaurant in Moscow. This new hunter’s club format will cater to men’s two greatest passions – hunting and delightful Scottish single malt whisky. Alexander Gafin - a well-known philanthropist, collector, a man of letters and head of the Executive Committee of the A.S. Pushkin Museum of Fine Arts Board of Directors became the club’s President. The launch of The Glenlivet Hunters’ Club will enable The Glenlivet brand to convey to the Russian public its history and values as well as explain the unique place that this whisky holds in Scotland – over two centuries ago the King of England George IV once and for all brought The Glenlivet and the world of hunting together having declared both the exclusive privilege of the king. The Glenlivet Hunters’ Club – is not just a place for true lovers of hunting and whisky connoisseurs – club membership offers a number of unique privileges such as the right to take part in private dinners at the club or presentations of weapons from the world’s best makers of fine arms. Members will also be able to take part in club shooting competitions, which will be launched around next spring and summer. Glenlivet Hunters’ Club’s partner – the Aresenal store offers personal privileged discounts for club members who wish to purchase their own hunting gear.