Renaissance Capital, the Russian bank, is building its presence in other emerging markets with the hire of a head of investment banking for eastern, central and southern Africa, a region which the bank's founder called a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity".

Renaissance has hired Maina Mwangi from Standard Bank where he was regional director of corporate and investment banking responsible for Nigeria and Ghana. He was previously head of African investment banking for Standard Bank in Johannesburg. Mwangi will be based in Nairobi, Kenya.