NYSSA speakers take on Russia

At the Securitization in Emerging Markets conference held by the New York Society of Security Analysts, speakers were all over the map, but a single country cropped up repeatedly in the string of talks: Russia. Some attendants sounded a cautionary note on the country; while others, notably boutique shop Greenwich Financial Services, were more optimistic. For credit analyst Igor Axenov at Genworth Financial Asset Management, risks related to securitization are still pervasive in the country. In the banking sector, for instance, service is lacking, he said. On the legal front, the absence of an overarching ABS legislation poses its own set of problems, according to attendants. Russia does not have a securitization statute, said Dennis Vinokurov, associate general counsel of the Open Society Institute.