Deutsche strengthens in Russia

Valeri Pouchnia joins the bank as its Moscow-based head of rates and FX trading for Russia and the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) at the end of June.

He previously headed up Merrill Lynch's fixed income, currencies and commodities (FICC) trading in the CIS, before leaving the US dealer's London office on June 2.

Before working at Merrill Lynch, Pouchnia headed local markets derivatives at Deutsche in Russia, overseeing the growth of its derivatives business there. He also had stints at Russian dealer Nikoil, and at hedge funds VR Capital and Renaissance Capital.

In his new role, Pouchnia replaces Deutsche's Vitali Bouzoveria, who left the German dealer two months ago. Bouzoveria is now said to have joined the Moscow office of formidable Russian dealer VTB, although VTB failed to confirm this by press time.

Deutsche has also boosted its FX business in Brazil with the hire of Rodrigo Ortiz from JP Morgan in London. He will join the bank on July 1, and will cover exotic derivatives products.

Ortiz joined JP Morgan in November 2005 as an FX structurer.