Rosneft hires Morgan Stanley veterans as Sechin advisers

MOSCOW Nov 12 (Reuters) - Rosneft has appointed a team of Morgan Stanley veterans led by former co-president Walid Chammah as advisers to Rosneft President Igor Sechin, the Russian national oil company said on Monday.

Two top executives from Morgan Stanley's Moscow office, Rair Simonyan and Elena Titova, have also been appointed to advise Sechin, who is carrying out a series of international exploration deals and a $55 billion takeover of BP's Russian joint venture, TNK-BP.

Titova will also become president of a Rosneft-owned bank, the Russian Regional Development Bank, and Chammah and Simonyan will join its board, the statement said.

Chammah and Simonyan told Reuters in separate embargoed interviews that the advisers would develop an energy trading platform as part of a mandate to create a new financial institution out of Rosneft's scattered financial assets.

"Clearly tighter regulation (of derivatives trade) is an opportunity for a new entrant into the trading business," Chammah said.