OREANDA-NEWS  On 20 February was announced, that Citibank published new Russia research "Tracks impact of financial crisis".

In January 2009 Citibank conducted its first research on affluent Russians investment behavior amid the crisis. The results show that affluent Russians demonstrate a very educated approach towards their investment strategies amid the financial crisis by shifting from aggressive and relatively risky behaviours towards more conservative ones, and being ready to pay for safety and stability.

The topic of saving one's money is becoming more and more pertinent as the global financial crisis unfolds and Russian ruble depreciates. How to retain savings? Where to keep them? What changes should be made to investment strategies in the current market conditions? This survey marks the beginning of a series of publications on the role of affluent segment in Russian economy.

For the purposes of this research, Affluent Segment is defined as those people having more than USD 50,000 available in liquid assets at their disposal for investment. It is split into the "Mass Affluent," who have liquid assets from USD 50,000 to USD 250,000, the "Affluent," with USD 250,000 - USD 500,000, and the "High Net Worth" (HNW), with more than USD 500,000 in liquid assets. The sample is based on CitiGold customers of Citibank, including both aggressive investors (who allocate their funds to investment and insurance products) and conservative ones (who simply keep money at the bank). Research methods involved the analysis of quantitative data related to the investment operations of customers.

Commenting on the results of research, Veronika Zhukova, Head of CitiGold, said: "Until now, the majority of publications on these topics have covered either the population in general or the so-called "oligarchs". However, the most educated and active investors in Russia, so-called "affluent customers", have never been analyzed. At the same time, they are likely to demonstrate the most weighed and appropriate approach when addressing the emerging challenges, which might serve as a benchmark".

More information are available here.