Alfa Bank has been voted Best Forex Bank in Russia by Global Finance for two consecutive years.

“Success in FX these days means in-depth knowledge of the market, understanding mechanisms of its functioning and trends, creating a good product range, building up client base as well as a concerted and diligent work of the whole team starting with traders and sales force and ending with the back office, said Sergei Rodionov, Head of Capital Markets Division at Alfa Bank.

This Award Report will be published as part of an exclusive survey in the April 2005 issue. In that issue the magazine will also publish rankings for “The Best Companies in Russia”, broken down by sector.

Global Finance editors — with input from end users, analysts, corporate reports and other expert sources — selected the best banks on a variety of criteria, both objective and subjective. Factors considered included: market leadership, innovation, commitment to markets and evidence of long-term strategy. “The Russian banking sector continued to show resilience and the ability to innovate and adapt,” said Global Finance publisher Joseph D. Giarraputo. “That’s recognized in our awards, for which there were strong competitors in every category. Russia’s banks show every sign of being able to mature and meet coming challenges in financing the country’s companies, consumers and savers.”

Alfa Bank’s Foreign Exchange and Money Market department is headed by Igor Vasiliev.