In Dresdner Bank's records is a copy of its first Russian operating licence, issued in St Petersburg in 1991. It bears the number one - the first foreign banking licence awarded in Russia's second city - and a Russian signature: Vladimir Putin.

At the time Mr Putin was an aide to St Petersburg's mayor and responsible for foreign investment. He negotiated the licence with Matthias Warnig who went on to head Dresdner Kleinwort Wasserstein's and then Dresdner Bank's Russian operations.