South Africa-based Standard Bank has seen the departure of Patrick Chalmers and Sharon Thomas, who had focused on serving high net worth Russian clients, WealthBriefing can exclusively report. Standard Bank has however revealed that it is currently actively recruiting to support its expansion plans for the Russian and Eastern European wealth management markets.

The departing private bankers had been based in Standard Bank’s London-based private client team, and it is has yet to be confirmed which firm Mr Chalmers and Ms Thomas will be joining following their resignations earlier this month.

Standard Bank, meanwhile, said that its private client team is deepening its focus on the Russian and Eastern European markets and the bank is therefore looking to recruit senior private bankers with in-depth knowledge of these regions.

Standard Bank’s commitment to Russia as a core market was underlined earlier this week by its acquisition of a 33 per cent stake in Troika Dialog, the Russian investment bank, as part of a strategic partnership.

Despite the current environment, Standard Bank is still “very much in business build mode”, according to Ian Gibson, head of Private Clients. In his view Russia presents significant wealth management opportunities, and he believes that Standard Bank’s presence and experience in emerging markets makes it well-placed to capitalise on these growth prospects.

"The combination of Troika Dialog's outstanding knowledge of Russian and CIS markets and Standard Bank's global reach means we are positioned to offer a wide range of wealth management products and expertise to private clients," Mr Gibson said.

As a result of the strategic partnership between the two firms, Standard Bank’s Russian operations, formally known as ZAO Standard Bank, have been merged into Troika Dialog and brought under the umbrella of that brand.