The independent investment group TRINFICO has been operating for more than three decades. The now-CEO of the company, Oleg Belay, has been involved in its activities from the very beginning. As a 21-year-old student, he co-founded a brokerage company which eventually became a large investment group. Much has changed over the decades:
- In the early 1990s, the young investment firm TRINFICO was developing the nascent Russian stock market and trading in privatization vouchers, a peculiar type of securities created by the collapse of the USSR.
- Today, in 2025, the business group focuses on green investments, develops individual solutions for institutional investors, and lists high-yield mutual funds on financially inclusive digital platforms.
More than 30 years separate these two eras. The bridge between them is the company’s ability to adapt to changing market conditions while remaining true to its business principles and ethics. The CEO of the group refers to this strategy as “evolutionary growth” or “moving in the flow.”
In this article, which includes Oleg Belay’s biography and the history of TRINFICO, we will provide an overview of his personal and corporate success story. And to better understand the character of the businessman, let us begin by looking at his first steps in life and business.
Happy Childhood and Energetic Youth
Oleg Viktorovich Belay was born in Moscow. At the time of his birth (1972), it was the capital of the Soviet Union. The boy grew up in Zelenograd, Moscow Region, which was commonly recognized as a scientific cluster.
His family lived in this city for a reason; Oleg’s father was a programmer, and his mother also worked in tech. The family had a remarkable social circle. The intellectual atmosphere in which Belay grew up inspired him and helped him develop a particular mindset. The businessman has many warm childhood memories and says that he was surrounded by care and love.
Oleg was a talented student, he read a lot and was interested in various school subjects, which included both the humanities and exact sciences. He was particularly interested in physics. In 1989, the young man enrolled at MIET choosing microelectronics as his major.
Changes came to the country when Belay was still a university student. The Soviet system collapsed, and on its ruins a new Russia was born. The new regime allowed citizens to resume business activities, and many young people saw it as their chance.
The future CEO of TRINFICO was one of these young people. He tested his abilities in all kinds of commercial fields, practiced financial journalism, and experimented with various business ideas. However it did not take him long to realize that his true passion was the stock market.
In the fall of 1992, Belay and some of his friends took up trading, and in the spring of 1993, the partners opened their own brokerage firm naming it TRINFICO. Thus was created the investment brand which became the main focus of Belay’s career.
Success Story: Key Milestones
So, three decades ago, Oleg Belay and his friends — inspired by the changes in the country — founded TRINFICO. Its history is a thirty-year journey that bridges the era of vouchers and the era of green bonds.
- 1990s. At the beginning, TRINFICO worked with vouchers, short-term government bonds (GKO), and shares of privatized enterprises and banks. By 1995, the company had introduced futures into its portfolio and joined the stock section of the MICEX (Moscow Interbank Currency Exchange). During that period, the team also began to develop asset management services.
- 2000s and 2010s. The investment group decided to focus on the asset management segment, where it established itself as a strong and respectable market player. In 2002, an independent pension fund became one of the long-term institutional clients of the company. A few years later, the group became a market leader in terms of the volume of pension assets under management.
- 2020s. An important achievement of this period was the successful integration of ESG practices. This major decision determined the group’s long-term strategy. It is worth noting that TRINFICO was the first among Russian AMCs to receive a sustainable development rating, achieving a ‘B1.esg’ score.
Ratings and Achievements
Belay’s team is confident about the future. In the spring of 2025, Expert RA gave a ‘ruA-‘ credit rating to the asset management company. The AMC has also achieved an ‘A+’ rating of reliability and quality of services from the National Rating Agency. TRINFICO has successfully achieved high ESG scores five years in a row.
We should note that one of the criteria of the group’s reliability is its long-running presence in the market. Many of the businesses that were created during the same period have been long gone from the scene. So, what is the secret to the investment group’s confident growth and high ratings?
Strong Expertise as the Key to Success
Oleg Belay says, “First and foremost, our clients value our experience, infrastructure, and comprehensive solutions.”
By the end of the 1990s, TRINFICO had become a corporate group. Several companies were united under one brand. This allowed TRINFICO to optimize its management processes and the interactions between its multiple divisions.
This approach also helped the company to build up its expertise in various areas of finance. The introduced changes made it possible for the teams from different divisions to efficiently explore new business areas while maintaining high service quality.
As a result, TRINFICO has become a multidisciplinary investment group which:
- on the one hand, provides a wide range of asset management, broker, and dealer services;
- and on the other hand, can offer comprehensive, interdisciplinary financial solutions.
Belay attributes a large portion of his personal and business success to continuous learning, self-improvement, and skill development. The TRINFICO team has accumulated unique experience and put a personalized approach at the forefront of its strategy. It develops customized investment solutions adapting every strategy to the specific needs of a particular client.
In 1995, the company created a special Strategy Committee. Productive discussions and competent strategic decisions play a major role in the group’s operations. Oleg Belay personally looks into all aspects of the company’s work and regularly interacts with the specialists. He knows each of them personally.
The National Rating Agency has noted that the core of the group’s team is made up of people who have been working here for 20-30 years. There are even those who have been with the company since the very beginning. Among them is co-founder of TRINFICO Oleg Belay. But what areas was he responsible for at different stages of his career? Let us look back at the professional biography of the top manager and highlight its milestones.
Three Stages of Professional Development: Career and Responsibilities
Belay’s career journey is a story of continuous professional growth. His colleagues say that he took on the responsibility for developing new markets from the very beginning and always strove to be at the forefront of the business. Belay also worked closely with the company’s clients, handling the front-office functions of various divisions. The businessman says that case studies and interactions with remarkable people have taught him a lot and improved his understanding of the financial market.
The career path of the manager can be divided into three stages.
- 1993-2008: the role of Chief Financial Officer.
For the first 15 years, the top manager played the role of CFO and was responsible for a wide range of tasks. For example, in 1993, he was mainly focused on voucher fund portfolios. In 1995, his focus shifted to commercial bank stocks. From 1996 to 1997, Belay was mainly involved in asset structure management, which required a great level of knowledge and practical experience.
- 2008–2013: Corporate Finance.
Belay’s transition to the role of Director of Corporate Finance marked a new stage in his career. His new area of responsibility included private equity and investment banking solutions, which required a high level of expertise and a keen understanding of the market.
- 2013: appointment as the CEO of the investment group.
Taking over as CEO was the next logical step in Belay’s career. Today, Belay chairs the board of directors, oversees investing activities, and develops the overall business strategy of the corporate group.
As we can see, Belay’s career has progressed through several roles as he continued to develop his skills and deepen his expertise in various areas of business. Each career stage opened up new horizons for his professional growth.
Business Principles of the Successful Financier and CEO
People often ask Belay what principles helped him build his success story and what helps him run his company. We have looked through some of his statements and interviews and put together a checklist for aspiring entrepreneurs. Here are the values and rules that have been guiding the CEO of TRINFICO for three decades:
- Focus on practice and gain experience “from the inside.”
- Enjoy what you do, be passionate about your work.
- Remember that changes are inevitable and keep up with the latest trends.
- Learn to understand the market and its needs.
- Be ready to work in a team and engage in constructive discussions.
- Continue to learn and expand your horizons, acquire knowledge in related fields.
- Remember that you have obligations to your clients, team, and community.
- Make ethical business decisions and focus on high moral standards.
- Be ready to act and move towards new goals.
The Greatest Heights Are Ahead
Entrepreneur Oleg Belay is someone who does not like to rest on his laurels. Although he has been in business for more than thirty years, the top manager still has the passion of a pioneer.
This is a very useful business skill in the ever-changing market which constantly presents new challenges and demands businesses to respond to them. Nowadays, for example, it is digitalization that drives the latest trends.
One of the most noticeable trends in recent years has been the influx of retail investors into securities trading. TRINFICO supports this growing enthusiasm by offering high-yield mutual funds to smaller clients, including through the modern digital platform Finuslugi (since 2024). In other words, it makes high-quality financial products available to various social groups, including students and retired people. At the same time, the company maintains its strong presence in the market for institutional-grade services.
What challenges will the investment group face tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, next year or next decade? Time will show. What matters is that TRINFICO is always ready to adapt, evolve, transform, and search for answers — in other words, to move forward.
