BCS Financial Group, a Russian brokerage originally created in Siberia, has received final regulatory approval in the U.S. as of May 31, 2016 and is ready to start slinging stocks on Wall Street. “On Friday evening, we got Finra’s approval in the U.S.,” Luis Saenz, head of equity sales and trading at BCS, said.

The green light from Finra, the financial industry regulatory authority in the United States, came on May 27, 2016.

“We believe that the United States will remain the single biggest investor in Russia and emerging markets for years to come,” said Saenz. “Moving into the U.S. is a natural step in our evolution as a business.”

BCS is attempting to crack Wall Street at a time when most of its established rivals are retreating or cowering under the stigma of sanctions. The firm, which is the largest trader of equities and derivatives on the Moscow Exchange, concluded a deal late last year to buy Alforma Capital Markets, a New York-based subsidiary of the Russian lender Alfa Bank.

Buying Alforma gives BCS access to a fully regulated U.S. broker-dealer without having to spend years in applying for the various licenses. Alfa pulled the plug on its own operation on Wall Street after trading volumes collapsed in the wake of sanctions and Russia’s economic contraction since 2014. VTB Capital and Sberbank CIB, whose parent groups were both sanctioned over the Kremlin’s interference in the Ukrainian conflict, have both been slashing their New York operations to the bone as business evaporated.

BCS, which has not been sanctioned, is already pitching aggressively to U.S. clients, who are intrigued by an independent Russian brokerage not aligned to the state or any oligarch grouping, according to Saenz.

“We have been visiting investors in Boston and New York, and they are very open to looking at Russia now,” Saenz said in an interview at their London offices located in the city’s grandiose Tower 42 skyscraper. “They like the angle that we are independent and privately-owned by one individual and there’s no matrix or anyone lurking behind him. They also appreciate that our research guys have no one tapping them on the shoulder and saying that this is the view you have to have on Gazprom.”

Saenz said BCS will be targeting regional U.S. brokers that typically have lacked any access to Russia, as well as the big mutual funds.

To run their U.S. business, BCS has hired George Kogan, who joined the company in March 2016 from Brunswick Rail, where he was a director of investor relations and capital markets. Kogan, who will be based out of BCS offices at the landmark Rockefeller Center, is a seasoned banker and previously worked in a variety of roles for Bank of America, Merrill Lynch, Renaissance Capital, Troika Dialog, and UFG in both New York and Moscow. Kogan is seeking to hire sales people and traders for the new office, as well as support staff.

Saenz, who has been to Boston and New York four times already this year, has detected a warming in attitude amongst hedge funds towards Russia, as the country’s equity and bond markets have rallied.

“Some investors have said they will stay away until sanctions are lifted,” said Saenz. “Others are already investing – albeit not as aggressively as in the past – but there are investors, especially in New York, who are being very opportunistic and aggressive.”

Sberbank, Russia’s biggest lender and the proxy bellwether stock for the country, jumped on May 30, 2016 to 135 roubles, its highest on record.

Russian stocks have surged 10 percent this year as oil, the country’s main export earner, has increased from a record low in January. Herman Gref, Sberbank’s boss and a former Economy Minister under President Vladimir Putin, said that the economy has passed through the worst of the slump.

Sberbank also posted its biggest quarterly profit on record at the end of May, reporting income of RUB120 billion (USD1.8 billion).