The Swiss bank, which recently named a head of its Russian wealth management arm, is planning to ramp up its AuM managed for clients in the country.

UBS, which recently named a new Russian wealth management head, intends to double assets under management in its business in Russia, and Central and Eastern Europe, a report said. 

“Russia has had a very strong start to the year, which contributed very substantially to EMEA overall, both in terms of revenues and net new money,” UBS’ wealth management head for Central and Eastern Europe, Caroline Kuhnert, was quoted telling Reuters in an interview.

The bank is particularly looking at high net worth clients with assets in the $5-$100 million range, including entrepreneurs from the recent boom in technology.

“We want to grow our business very strongly. We believe we can double it over the next few years,” Kuhnert said, adding that they were planning to double revenues as well as assets under management over the next four-five years.

Last week, UBS appointed Elena Griffin, JP Morgan’s head of wealth management for Russia, to become vice chair of the Central and Eastern Europe, Greece and Israel region and promoted Ekaterina Lehmann to become head of global wealth management in Russia. Both of them took on newly-created roles.

The moves suggest that Western banks are scaling up activity in Russia after having been through a restricted period when Western governments imposed sanctions on the country in 2014 and the US set further controls in 2018. The moves were ostensibly justified by Russia’s annexation of the Crimea and in anger about its alleged interference with armed conflict in Ukraine. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin has sought to encourage businesses to return funds to the country by offering a capital amnesty and tax breaks.