Economics
UBS Counts on Russia Revival Even Without Trump-Putin Thaw
- Swiss group says it’s getting better at dealing with sanctions
- U.S. election, rising oil prices are boosting Russian assets
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UBS Group AG, which has investment-banking and wealth-management units in Russia, says it’s getting more comfortable doing deals in the sanctioned state and will be even more positive on the country if there’s a rapprochement between presidents Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump.
“When sanctions were first introduced, we were a little more restrictive, but now we have more experience in how sanctions work so we can be a bit more open,” Hendrik Geldenhuys, head of central and eastern Europe at UBS Wealth Management, said in an interview in Moscow. “If the new U.S. administration moves to normalize or improve relations with Russia, that’s something we’d obviously welcome. But it’s still early days.”