Federal investigators have reportedly started probing the violent death of a top investment banker at state-owned VTB, Russia's second largest bank, after he was was found with his arms and legs bound in a swimming pool, police and law enforcement sources said on Friday.

Oleg Zhukovsky, who ran VTB's lending operations to companies working in the lucrative $19bn (€13bn) a year logging industry, was found dead yesterday in his pool with his limbs bound, according to police reports.