According to statistics, 9 out of 10 startups cease to exist within a year after the launch. Building a sustainable, stable, and reliable business is not an easy task. And it is particularly difficult to create one in the investment field where operations are associated with higher risks, and the very nature of the market promotes instability. And yet, the investment group TRINFICO has been working in this field for over thirty years, with an ‘A+’ reliability rating. Its co-founder and CEO is financier Oleg Belay who specializes in complex institutional-level investment solutions.
21-Year-Old Top Manager
One of the most remarkable facts from Oleg Belay’s biography is that he became a chief financial officer at the age of 21. But how did such a young man achieve something so extraordinary?
Belay is a graduate of the Moscow Institute of Electronic Technology (MIET). He came from an extremely educated family, which placed a very high value on knowledge. His parents were electronics engineers and cared a lot about the intellectual development of their children. The boy was an excellent student, well-versed in physics and mathematics, and this fact eventually determined his educational choices.
Another factor that influenced Oleg as a person was that he was the eldest of three sons. Taking care of his younger brothers helped him develop a strong sense of responsibility, which eventually had a positive impact on his business career.
The social circle of the family also played a positive role in his life; Oleg’s parents often had engineers, programmers, and university professors over at their place. These were intelligent and competent people who were passionate about their work. The boy enjoyed listening to their conversations. He was a great listener and could absorb complex information from an early age. Later on, this ability proved very useful to the businessman; he says that he learned a lot from conversations with his business partners and other interesting people whom he met along the way.
The entrepreneur considers knowledge an important part of his personal and business achievements. He believes that the key to success lies in continuous self-education and professional development.
Two other traits that stand out in the character of this man are his fascination with everything new and boldness in exploring the terra incognita of business. It was this side of his nature that brought Oleg Belay to business as a student and made him explore various market segments and try things out in search of his own path. It was these character traits that prompted Belay to dive into something that was entirely new to Russia and get into stock trading, which eventually led him to the creation of TRINFICO in 1993.
It is worth noting that the young man entered the business world and the stock market back when these types of activities were still a novelty in Russia. The high school years of the future financier took place during the Soviet era with its planned economy. But by the time he started university, it had become possible for Russian citizens to create their own businesses, and Belay took advantage of this opportunity.
Historical Background: Business Milestones
According to entrepreneur Oleg Belay, TRINFICO owes its success to an evolutionary development approach. He describes it as a combination of stability and flexibility, or resilience and innovation.
A quick review of the investment group’s history will help us illustrate this idea. According to the CEO, the “evolution” process was based on analyzing trends, both in the stock market and in the economy as a whole. After catching another wave, the company quickly followed the changes. It updated its service offerings, created special divisions, and developed new business niches.
• 1993. Belay and his partners create a brokerage firm to conduct trading operations using their own assets.
• 1995. The firm moves up to a new level after attracting its first asset management client. Eventually it switches the focus to asset management services.
• 2002. The client base expands. The firm signs its first contract with a pension fund, a serious institutional client with extremely high standards regarding asset management companies.
• 2008-2013. The company develops private equity and investment banking services. The AMC begins to create closed-end and open-end mutual funds. It starts to provide asset structuring solutions and services for attracting external investment.
• 2020s. The company adopts ESG integration and receives an ESG score. It democratizes its services and no longer focuses solely on large clients, aiming to increase the accessibility of financial products.
Today, TRINFICO is a young company in spirit and its approach to setting ambitious goals. It firmly “stands on its own feet” as confirmed by professional assessments from rating agencies; it is evolving in the spirit of the times and expanding the range of its service offerings.
Strong Expertise and High-Yield Financial Instruments
Asset management is a set of services that help legal entities and individuals manage their assets more efficiently. Clients expect their capital to grow and the wealth to increase. Thanks to the expertise of Belay’s team, TRINFICO is able to meet these expectations and deliver solid returns to investors.
Some of the most important business focuses of the investments group are closed-end and open-end mutual funds. Belay’s employees create closed-end funds for various purposes, developing individual investment and asset structuring solutions for their clients. They are now busy working on the TRINFICO Wealth solutions, where closed-end funds act as a foundation for building the family wealth of private individuals.
The company’s open-end mutual funds are listed on stock exchanges and, since last year, on the digital platform Finuslugi. These solutions are among the top products in terms of profitability on the Russian stock market. For example, in 2023, the open-end fund “World Bonds” placed among the top three in its segment (2nd place, 35.6 percent annual return). And in 2024, the “Capitalist” mutual fund showed a 47.45 percent return.
The businessman attributes these achievements to the expert-level professionalism of his team. Its core members are people who, like the CEO himself, have devoted decades of their lives to TRINFICO. These are real professionals who have been through more than one economic crisis.
At the same time, the AMC remains open to new people and new ideas. When evaluating the company, the NRA (National Rating Agency) observed an increase in recruitment expenses, which allows us to conclude that TRINFICO strives to hire the best talent for its divisions.
In his interviews, the top manager always emphasizes that he places a very high value on his employees. He says that people are the main asset of his company.
A Few Words from Independent Experts
The high quality of the group’s financial products has been repeatedly confirmed by expert assessments from rating agencies.
When assessing the company’s activities, Expert RA noted the high quality of asset management services at TRINFICO. It also pointed to a well-developed risk assessment system, which makes the company’s financial products reliable and allows for stable business operations in general. As a result, the AMC received an ‘A’ score with a stable outlook from the agency.
The National Rating Agency (NRA) has also repeatedly rated TRINFICO at the ‘A’ level, but in 2023 and 2024, it upgraded the company’s rating of reliability and quality of services to ‘A+’. The reasons for this decision included the following aspects:
• a long-term presence in the asset management market;
• a rapid expansion of the client base, including through building partnerships with banks;
• asset democratization and a revenue base expansion (through reducing client concentration);
• good business profitability indicators and high revenue growth;
• a robust liquidity risk framework, that is, resilience to external factors and potential to withstand financial crises;
• experienced portfolio managers.
Expert RA also noted the company’s high-quality IT infrastructure. TRINFICO uses some of the most advanced fintech solutions; it acquires the latest software equipment, regularly upgrades its analytics resources, and pays great attention to information security.
Careful Risk Calculation at the Heart of Decision-Making
In the words of Oleg Belay, TRINFICO’s strategy is all about “moving in the flow.” This principle implies moving forward among the market leaders steadily and without sudden workarounds. Instead of wasting energy on battling competitors and trying to get ahead at any cost, it is more reasonable to use resources constructively. In other words, it makes more sense to create high-quality financial products, introduce fresh services, and develop new markets.
Avoiding unnecessary risks is the principle that has been the cornerstone of TRINFICO’s development as an asset management company. As a company operating in this field, it is responsible for the financial well-being of its clients. That is why its executives carefully weigh their decisions and focus on risk management as one of the pillars of the company’s operations.
Expert RA analysts note that the AMC uses a well-developed risk assessment approach, which allows it to stay strong in the investment industry for decades. The TRINFICO risk management system is based on:
• technologies for analyzing the financial standing of the issuers of securities which are to be included in the portfolios;
• well-thought-out strategies for managing various types of risks, such as credit or market risks, etc.;
• efficient operational risk management.
The NRA analysts, too, note the strict risk management rules of the company.
As a result of the competent investment decisions, the brand’s products remain both profitable and reliable, with an additional advantage of having high liquidity.
Great Achievements Lead to Greater New Goals
Looking back on his business journey, Oleg Viktorovich Belay is ready to chart new paths for the future. Continuous movement and constant progress are some of the main principles of the executive. When the CEO reaches one summit, he immediately sets the course for another.
He applies this philosophy to both business and life goals. The entrepreneur is one of those people whose lives are full of meaning. As a businessman, he stands at the helm of a big company, observes the efforts of his team, and promotes ESG integration. And outside his office, he is a good family man, a father and grandfather, a keen philatelist and motorcycle enthusiast, a philanthropist and the founder of a charitable foundation dedicated to fighting poverty.
