Chief Executive Officer of the banking group Citigroup Inc. Vikram Pandit plans to appoint John Havens as president and chief operating officer (COO) as part of a structural reform to support the bank's recovery from the financial crisis. Havens, 54, has been head of Citi's institutional clients group for three years. His appointment will reduce the workload on Pandit, who currently has 18 top managers directly subordinate to him.

American bank Goldman Sachs Group Inc. based on the results of the fourth quarter of 2010, net profit was reduced by 52%. As reported in a press release from the credit institution, net profit in October-December amounted to $2.39 billion, or $3.79 per share, compared to $4.95 billion, or $8.2 per share, received for the same period in 2009 of the year. The profit was in line with the expectations of analysts surveyed by Bloomberg .

Vnesheconombank (VEB) is placing 5-year Eurobonds in the amount of 400 million Swiss francs at 3.75% per annum. this to Interfax . A source in the financial market reported The technical placement of securities, when investors make mutual settlements with the issuer, will take place on February 17. Earlier it became known that the benchmark yield is about 224 basis points to average market swaps. The indicative coupon rate is 3.75% per annum.

Gazprom's board of directors approved a reduction in the number of ordinary shares per American depositary receipt (ADR) from four to two, the holding company said on Wednesday. “The Board of Directors approved the conclusion of OJSC Gazprom with The Bank Of New York Mellon of an additional agreement, according to which the number of ordinary shares of the company per American Depositary Receipt (ADR) will be reduced from four to two,” the press statement says. -release.

For the first time, the investigation opened a criminal case against a user of the VKontakte website who illegally posted works and phonograms of musical performers on his page. Directorate “K” of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs announced this on Wednesday.

The founder of the oil trader Gunvor, Gennady Timchenko ( 36th place in the “golden hundred” of Forbes 2010, fortune - $1.9 billion ) owns up to 23.5% in Novatek OJSC, Interfax reports with reference to materials from the largest independent gas producer in Russia . According to the latest data, the Volga Resources fund, owned by the entrepreneur, owned 23.13% of Novatek shares.

Russian Railways OJSC paid passengers of two flights of the Sapsan high-speed trains, who were delayed on Monday morning, more than 1.5 million rubles. reports this Interfax with reference to the corporate television of Russian Railways. The first train from St. Petersburg to Moscow departed with a delay “due to technical reasons” by more than 2 hours (in the end the train was late by 2 hours 4 minutes). Another Sapsan, en route to the northern capital, was delayed for 40 minutes.

Copper prices hit a record high on Wednesday on speculation that demand growth will outpace supply growth as the global economic recovery continues and investors look for ways to hedge against a weaker U.S. dollar, Bloomberg reported . Copper for delivery in three months on the London Metal Exchange (LME) rose in price by 0.8% to $9,774.75 per ton. The previous peak value of $9,754 per ton was recorded on January 4, Interfax recalls .

Rosneft plans to complete the share exchange deal with BP within 3-4 weeks. The head of the Russian company, Eduard Khudainatov, outlined such deadlines on Wednesday. He recalled that “the agreement is legally binding.” “I think we will close this deal within 3-4 weeks,” Interfax quotes the Rosneft president . Khudainatov noted that within the specified period, BP plans to conduct an additional share issue in favor of the Russian company.

Swiss authorities have decided to freeze the assets of the fugitive Tunisian President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, the country's Foreign Ministry said in a statement released on Wednesday. “The Federal Council (government) has decided to immediately block all possible assets in Switzerland of the former president of Tunisia and his entourage,” the communique noted, excerpts from which are cited by Reuters.

Senator Suleiman Kerimov acquired the Makhachkala football club Anzhi. This information was confirmed on Tuesday by the administration of the head of Dagestan Magomedsalam Magomedov. The head of the region met with Kerimov in Moscow. The speaker of the republican parliament, Anzhi, Magomed-Sultan Magomedov, also took part in the negotiations. As a result of the meeting, all the details of the transaction for the sale of the football club to Kerimov’s structures were agreed upon.

The International Aviation Committee (IAC) on the evening of Tuesday, January 18, published a transcript of the communications between air traffic controllers shortly before the plane crashed with Polish President Lech Kaczynski on board in April 2010. Recordings of an open tape recorder, recordings of telephone conversations and recordings of radio conversations have been published.

Shares of the Bank of Moscow fell by 4% after it became known that the international rating agency Moody's downgraded the bank's rating. By 17:30 Moscow time on the MICEX, the price of the credit institution’s shares had dropped to 1,030.1 rubles per share, which is 4.2% lower than Tuesday’s level.

The director of the bureau for coordinating the fight against organized crime and other dangerous crimes in the CIS countries, police lieutenant general Alexander Bokov, was detained in Moscow on suspicion of embezzling $46 million. The press service of the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation reported this on Wednesday. A criminal case was initiated against a high-ranking employee of the Ministry of Internal Affairs under Part 4 of Art.

Unicredit Group does not plan to acquire the capital government's share in the Bank of Moscow. The Italian group aims to develop organically in Russia in the near future, said the head of the bank’s division in Central and Eastern Europe, Gianni Franco Papa. “I’m sure there is no reason to buy a stake in the Bank of Moscow; this issue is not on the agenda,” Interfax quotes him as saying . Dad added that the group plans to grow organically in Russia in the near future.