Russia’s financial sector is changing as new infrastructure and development projects materialise, overseas funding is provided to friendly nations, and the landscape changes as regards use of currencies into addition to shifts in the way in which capital is used, from QR codes to Crypto all driving new regulatory and Central Bank guidelines. Navigate Russia’s financial landscape. Get analysis on the banking sector, investment mechanisms, currency exchange, and capital markets for businesses operating and investing in Russia.
Despite European media stating the contrary, the Russian economy and foreign trade data improved during January-May 2026. We examine the data, look at the underlying reasons and provide the hard evidence that support the Russian statistics.
INNOPROM Russia has just concluded, showcasing the best of Russian innovation and technical expertise. With billions of dollars of agreements signed, it marks a strategic shift to exporting technologies as opposed to commodities.
Russia’s Sberbank has announced the launch of a 40 million outlet QR code payment system operational throughout Indonesia. The two countries have a Free Trade Agreement while destinations such as Bali are very popular with Russian tourists. The QR code system renders payment mechanisms such as SWIFT essentially obsolete.
Moscow’s trade representative to India, Zlata Antusheva, has said that India and Russia must de-dollarize to boost bilateral trade as the countries roll out mechanisms to achieve the targeted US$100 billion in mutual trade by 2030.
The Eurasian Economic Union has been discussing trade with China and the prospects for defined tariffs. At present the two parties have a non-preferential trade agreement, but this could change to a more significant trade deal.
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Russia’s VTB bank is once again looking at developing operations in Iran as the conflict situation begins to calm down. Bilateral trade exceeded US$5 billion last year and has grown in 2026 despite problems. VTB will be looking to finance part of that trade.
The Eurasian Development Bank, in which Russia is a major investor, is set to approve 11 new countries as members, mainly from the Middle East. This will help facilitate Middle East sovereign investments into Central Asia.
Russia is bringing in new cryptocurrency laws from July 1 which have the potential to revolutionise Eurasian and global trade finance and especially with China, India, ASEAN and the Middle East. We examine the laws in detail and analyse what they mean in the next generation of international financial flows.
The BRICS countries are continuing their plans to establish a grain exchange, to divert agricultural trade away from Western platforms. The BRICS both produce and consume about 44% of the world’s total markets for corn, wheat and rice, with members Brazil, China, India, Indonesia and Russia amongst the world’s largest producers and consumers.
The Moscow Stock Exchange is to start trading futures on South Korea’s iShare market from July 9, which includes hi-tech companies such as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix.
The Russia-ASEAN business forum was held last week with important geopolitical strategic agreements signed in energy, supply chains, finance, and trade and a 2026-2020 Comprehensive Action Plan. We examine all these initiatives and provide a country-by-country breakdown of deals agreed on a multilateral and bilateral basis with Russia. It is essential reading for anyone involved in ASEAN and Asian affairs.
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