OREANDA-NEWS. On 19 May, President and Chairman of VTB Bank Management Board Andrey Kostin opened trading at the London Stock Exchange. This honour marked ten years since the bank held its IPO and started trading its securities at the LSE.

VTB was the first among Russian banks to hold an Initial Public Offering (IPO) in May 2007, and the bank’s stock started trading in Moscow in May of the same year as well. This was the largest international IPO in the banking sector at the time, with VTB raising $8bn.

Inclusive of the Secondary Public Offerings (SPO) carried out in 2011 and 2013 VTB raised an estimated $15bn through the sale of its shares to large Russian and international investors and sovereign funds. VTB’s IPO has boosted the development of Russia’s economy and stock market.

In the years since its IPO, VTB has greatly progressed, more than doubling its share of the Russian banking sector reaching an estimated 20 percent and increasing its assets eight-fold to approximately $200bn.

The group’s retail business was launched in 2005 and holds leading positions in Russia. In 2016, VTB and the Russian mail service Pochta Rossii launched the unique Post Bank project.