By his decree Russian President Vladimir Putin has relieved Vladimir Dmitriev of his duties as the chairman of state-run corporation Bank for Development and External Economic Activity (Vnesheconombank)," the Kremlin's press service reported.
By another decree the Russian leader appointed Sergei Gorkov, deputy management board chairman at Sberbank, to the position of VEB's chairman.
Vladimir Dmitriev has served as Vnesheconombank's chairman since May 27, 2004.
Sergei Gorkov was born on December 1, 1968 in the Orenburg region. In 1994, he graduated from the Academy of the Federal Security Service of Russia with a major in law, and in 2002 he graduated the Plekhanov Russian Academy of Economics, majoring in finance and credit.
In 1994—1997, he was employed as the deputy department head, head of the HR department at Bank Menatep. From 1997 through 2005 he held executive HR positions at oil majors Yukos and Yukos-Moskva.
Since November 2008 he has been head of staff policy at Sberbank. In October 2010, he became a management board member and was appointed Sberbank's deputy management board chairman.
Banki.ru wired in mid-February, quoting a source in the banking market, that Gorkov would join Vnesheconombank and become its chief executive in the near future. Furthermore, news broke that Sberbank president and management board chairman German Gref could get a seat in the development institution's supervisory board.
The Central Bank of Russia and the Russian government are discussing various options of rescuing VEB, including to convert some of its debt to the mega-regulator into a subordinated loan with its further inclusion in the development institution's capital. Moreover, on the table is also the possibility to turn VEB into a commercial banks, and in this case it will be overseen by the Bank of Russia, Bank of Russia chairwoman Elvira Nabiullina said in an interview with news agency Reuters.