News

Alfa-Bank has been voted Best M&A advisor in Russia by Global Finance for two consecutive years and Best Trade Finance Bank for four years. These AWARDS will be published as part of exclusive surveys in the February and April 2004 issues. “The World’s Best Foreign Exchange Banks and providers for 2004” feature will appear in The March issue.

Alfa-Bank trade-services network includes our Moscow office and Amsterdam Trade Bank, which now provides standard and tailor-made products for Russia-related trade and project finance, investments and international settlements.

Max Topper, Head of International Banking at Alfa-Bank says, that 2003 was a very good year for international trade with Russia. “Companies large and small actively imported foreign consumer and capital goods facilitated by strong domestic demand. We were pleased that as a leading private Russian financial institution we were able to assist out customers to finance their short and medium term trade operations and as such helped them retool manufacturing facilities and become more competitive”, Topper said.

Alfa-Bank’s Corporate Finance Department is headed by Mr. Alexandr Tolchinsky, Member of the Executive Board.

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

Global Finance editors — with input from industry analysts, corporate executives and technology experts — selected the best companies globally and in different countries. According to the Global Finance editors, criteria for choosing Alfa-Bank in Russia included transaction volume, market share, customer service, competitive pricing and innovative technologies. “We are honoring the banks that excel in an intensely competitive field that is extremely important to our readers,”says Joseph D. Giarraputo, publisher and president of Global Finance.

Global Finance, which enters its 17^th year of publishing in 2004, has 50,000 subscribers in 108 countries. This audience includes chairmen, presidents, CEOs, CFOs, treasurers, and other financial officers responsible for making investments and strategic business decisions for large global companies and financial institutions. Global Finance targets most of the 8,000 key portfolio investors who control over 80% of all assets under professional management.

For additional information and the complete list of honored companies please contact the Global Finance office, tel: +1 212 447 7900 ext. 222.