Economics
The Man Who Became Russia’s Stockbroker
Oleg Mikhasenko’s BCS Financial handles about one of every four trades in his home market. Sanctions squeezing rivals mean that number is only growing.
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An obsession with volume turned an old-school rocker from Siberia, Oleg Mikhasenko, into Russia’s largest stockbroker. Now U.S. sanctions are swelling his fortune by pinching his Kremlin-connected competitors.
Mikhasenko’s BCS Financial Group has tripled trading income since 2014, when the U.S. and its allies first imposed financial penalties on Russia, as investors increasingly shun the two biggest state banks, Sberbank PJSC and VTB Group.