A long-term presence in the market, stability, efficient liquidity risk management, and an enviable reputation — these are desirable characteristics of any business. And when it comes to investing, they become even more valuable. Investment companies have to handle greater risks and deal with many unpredictable factors that often come into play in the financial market. CEO of TRINFICO, Oleg Belay, will tell you how to build a stable business in these conditions and stay in the market for more than thirty years.
Another reason why the story of this businessman and his asset management company deserves special attention is that TRINFICO was created in challenging times, when the stock market in Russia was only beginning to take shape. The company has thrived through many crisis periods. Throughout its long history, its main clients have been large institutional investors, including multiple pension funds. The brand’s portfolio managers have gained a reputation in the asset management field as a team capable of generating the most complex institutional-level solutions.
Today, the company continues to move forward — for example, the experts of the National Rating Agency affirmed its reliability rating at the ‘A+’ level. So, how to build a business at this level, where to start, and how to respond to constantly changing economic conditions?
On the Wave of Change
Belay Oleg Viktorovich became interested in entrepreneurship at the time when the opportunities for commercial activity in the country had only just presented themselves. When Oleg was born and when he graduated from school and started university, all private business activities were still prohibited in the USSR. However, in 1989, when the young man was a student at the Moscow Institute of Electronic Technology, the government adopted a law allowing Soviet citizens to create cooperatives. There were still many restrictions, but the first steps towards a market economy had been taken. And many young people took advantage of the new opportunities!
It was the enthusiasm of the younger generation that became the main driving force behind market transformations. The youth felt constrained within the Soviet system, while business offered them intriguing prospects. The changes promised not only money, but also exciting endeavors. The seventeen-year-old student enthusiastically researched commercial opportunities, spent some time in financial journalism, and tried his hand at other business ventures. He managed to make his first money, but most importantly, he gained entrepreneurial experience.
In 1991, the USSR was dissolved and replaced by fifteen independent states. Russia finally abandoned the Soviet economic model and even started the privatization process, handing over state-owned enterprises to private investors. For this purpose, the state issued privatization checks, or vouchers. Citizens could use these vouchers to get shares in a particular company or simply sell them. This was the starting point of securities trading and the beginning of stock markets in Russia.
In 1992, Oleg Belay and his friends started to trade privatization checks, and in 1993, they opened a brokerage firm. This means that TRINFICO is the same age as the Russian stock market itself! Media often refers to it as one of the oldest investment groups in the Russian Federation, and rightly so.
Was it difficult to start a business in such conditions? Yes, it was, because trading was uncharted territory and the market itself had not yet been fully formed. There was not enough information about trading and investing. Novice investors had to learn the rules of the game in practice, relying only on their personal experience, mistakes, and victories.
But what an exciting experience it was! When thinking back to this period in his biography, Oleg Belay says that he had found enormous interest in the emerging financial institutions. He wanted to participate in these processes himself. The young top manager of TRINFICO had only one thought at the time, “We are on the threshold of a big, important, and beautiful story.”
New Waves, Challenges, and Trends
Many people started their companies on the same wave of change that brought entrepreneur Oleg Belay to business. But only a few of these enterprises still exist today. Most did not stand the test of time. Only serious and stable businesses survived.
When talking about the success of TRINFICO, the top manager uses the phrase “moving with the flow.” He emphasizes that the investment field is a risky and unpredictable domain, in which simply surviving another day is an achievement in itself. To move forward, you need to follow two fundamental business principles: manage your risks carefully and respond to changing market trends quickly:
• The first principle keeps your investment business stable, protects it against unforeseeable circumstances, and ensures solid liquidity risk management in times of crisis.
• The second one allows you to make more money by using the most relevant and profitable instruments of a given period. And profit, as we know, is the key to prosperity of any asset management company, because clients do not just want to save their assets, they also expect them to grow.
Belay says that over his thirty years in the industry he witnessed many new waves. They swept some of the players off the market and gave others a chance to move forward. TRINFICO always managed to use these chances skillfully. The top manager says that challenging times forced the company to evolve without a break.
Like a ship, TRINFICO used the market flow to accelerate its progress. The main challenge here was to determine the direction of this flow and to take advantage of the latest trends.
What did it look like in practice? Let’s look at some examples.
Every Challenge Is a Stepping Stone
TRINFICO was created as a brokerage company. In the first two years of operations, it carried out transactions using only its own financial resources. At first, its founders traded vouchers, but soon they started to work with stocks and, after a while, derivatives as well. In 1996 and 1997, they managed to take advantage of high interest rates on sovereign debt. As soon as new opportunities presented themselves, the young financiers immediately turned their attention to them. During this period, Belay acted as CFO in the company, and was also responsible for developing new markets.
TRINFICO reached another important milestone when it transitioned to the asset management business model. In 1995, the company attracted its first client. As an AMC, it was able to scale its operations and start implementing complex investment strategies. However, this also meant greater responsibility, which called for greater risk control. In other words, the financiers had to live up to the expectations of their clients, as it was not only their own money that was at stake now.
The company switched to managing assets in response to emerging demand. People and enterprises with substantial financial resources were no longer a rarity in the country, and they required wealth management solutions. TRINFICO became one of the first Russian companies to offer professional asset management services.
In the years ahead, the team continued to analyze demand and introduce new financial instruments into the company’s operations. From 2008 to 2013, Belay played the role of Corporate Finance Director. During these years, the company began to navigate global markets and provide investment banking services, as well as work with mutual funds (private equity).
In 2013, the majority shareholder of TRINFICO, Oleg Belay, stepped into the role of CEO. One of his most notable decisions over the past decade was Environmental, Social, Governance (ESG) integration. His focus on “green investing” — which many at first perceived as “jumping on a bandwagon” — proved to be financially productive. It turned out to be the fastest growing segment of the world economy. Nowadays, ESG investing is a globally recognized trend.
Belay’s team has always viewed market changes, challenges, and even crises as stepping stones. You may be wary of the new, afraid of changes in the routine, and scared of black swan events… but it is much more practical to make them work in your favor instead.
Opportunities of Tomorrow
What is the company’s state of affair at the moment? The main facts about TRINFICO:
• The brand has a good and trustworthy reputation among institutional investors. Its client base includes pension funds, which are particularly strict in selecting AMCs to manage their assets (they have to pay special attention to risk management due to legal requirements).
• The group is among the top-ranking companies in terms of various indicators, such as the amount of pension reserves or AUM.
• Rating agencies assign high scores to the company, noting its stable operations, high-performing employees, efficient organizational structure, and other important growth indicators. Expert RA assesses its reliability at ‘A’, while the National Rating Agency gives the AMC an even higher ‘A+’ rating.
• The company’s solutions are highly profitable. For example, in 2023, the brand’s mutual funds were among the most profitable in the Russian investment market (second place among bond mutual funds and third place among hybrid mutual funds).
• The group offers a wide range of services. These include investment banking, private equity, and real estate investment solutions. It also conducts its own trading operations and provides brokerage services.
• The client base continues to expand. According to the National Rating Agency, in recent years, the growth has also been facilitated by the well-structured partnerships with banks. And in 2024, the AMC made another step forward by joining the Finuslugi platform and attracting a wide range of retail investors.
All this allows the TRINFICO team to look confidently into the future. Past experience suggests that the investment group will continue to use new market trends to boost its further progress.
The CEO’s strategic plans are as ambitious as always. He says that accomplished goals do not mark the end of a journey but open new paths. The entrepreneur is now focused on mastering new skills, developing promising markets, and introducing up-to-date financial services. “Moving in the flow” does not allow for pauses, and thirty years of history in big business are just the beginning!
