“Third Rome announces its entrance onto the financial services market,” the firm said in a statement.

The company has already been registered in Russia and just been granted a licence from the Federal Financial Markets Services, the Russian regulator.

Discretionary asset management is Third Rome’s main activity; mutual funds and pension fund management will not be represented among the product offering, the firm said.

The company will focus exclusively on serving high net worth individuals, a spokesperson told WealthBriefing. Clients must have a minimum of $1 million of investable assets.

Mr Movchan, his former colleagues from RIM and several foreign investors are among Third Rome’s shareholders.

The company currently has a staff of around 30 members, with around 20 of these employees having moved to Third Rome from RIM.

According to some news reports, ex-RIM employees hired by Third Rome include Dmirty Zhuk as business development director, Max Yanpolsky as chief operating officer and chief technical officer, and Danilo Lacmanovic and Aleksandr Granovsky as senior partners.

When contacted by this publication RIM did not comment on departure of any personnel, nor Mr Movchan’s plans.