Abu Dhabi financial services company Invest AD and Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank signed an agreement to co-operate on investment in the Russian and the Middle East markets. According to the agreement, signed in Russia’s capital city Moscow, Sberbank and Invest AD will introduce their clients to opportunities in their respective capital markets, private equity, and trade finance. The two institutions will also give each other legal support and share market research. The agreement builds on a relationship stretching back to 2009, when Invest AD joined Sberbank in an investment in a ski resort that will host the 2014 Winter Olympics near Sochi, in the Krasnaya Polyana region. “Today Sberbank is a global banking group with a presence in the leading financial markets: Russia, CIS, Europe and Asia,” Sberbank President and CEO Herman Gref said after signing the agreement. Invest AD’s Chief Executive Officer, Nazem Fawwaz Al Kudsi, said the partnership with Russia’s biggest bank would add great value to Invest AD’s clients. “Sberbank is a great bank with a strong ownershipand compelling vision, and we are honoured to be partners with them. We look forward to extending their clients’ reach into the MEA and to encouraging investment flows from the ME into the exciting opportunities available in Russian economy.” “The ME is in every respect a strategic region for global policy and finance and we intend to develop an active presence there. Now we are exploring an opportunity of working there, and we realise that to be effective and successful,” Herman Gref concluded.