Babak Dastmaltschi was the go-to banker for some of Russia’s wealthiest individuals, but then war and sanctions brought the business to a grinding halt.
The Dilbar is a maritime exercise in excess. Commissioned by Russian billionaire Alisher Usmanov, the largest super-yacht in the world boasts four cascading balconies, two helipads and the biggest interior pool of its kind. German shipyard Lürssen calls it one of the most challenging yachts it ever completed.
“Credit Suisse has had a very proactive approach to recruiting rich Russians, using their connections with the Russian elite,” says Kern Alexander, the chair of law and finance at the University of Zurich. This story is based on interviews with people close to Dastmaltschi and his work at Credit Suisse, who spoke on condition of anonymity discussing private matters. When reached by email, Dastmaltschi referred requests for an interview to Credit Suisse.
For his part, Dastmaltschi has pivoted his entire focus to clients in the Middle East and Western Europe, working alongside investment bank chief Christian Meissner, to bring deals to the bank’s capital markets team. Dastmaltschi began his career at McKinsey in Washington, before doing stints in New York and Germany. He later jumped ship to Morgan Stanley Dean Witter, rising to head the US bank’s private wealth business in Germany.
But then in 2014 the Russia desk ran into serious trouble when Russia annexed Crimea, setting off a first wave of sanctions from Europe and the US. Compliance and know-your-customer rules were already becoming much tougher and the oligarchs who’d got rich under presidents Boris Yeltsin and Vladimir Putin were becoming a liability for the bank, even if the government restrictions imposed that year were still relatively narrow in scope.
Compounding matters for the bank, the imploding Russian business isn’t the only major hurdle looming that involves the banker.
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