Alfa-Bank promotes Petr Smida to head its Board of Directors
01 Feb 2008
Alfa-Bank, the largest private sector bank in Russia, announced today the promotion of Petr Smida to the post of Chairman of the Board of Directors succeeding Mikhail Fridman who will continue in his role as a board member. In his new role, Smida will coordinate the activities of Board of Directors in setting the overall strategic direction of the bank, furthering the adoption of global best practices and developing the bank’s top management team.
Commenting on the new appointment, Mikhail Fridman noted that this was a “…a planned change to the role shareholders play in the management of the Bank. Petr Smida joined Alfa-Bank in 2003 and has proven to be a highly skilled professional who is capable of successfully implementing the best international business standards in the Russian banking market. I am confident that in his new position Petr will take advantage of all the opportunities to ensure the further successful development of the bank.”
Petr Smida was appointed First Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alfa-Bank in July 2007. From February 2004 to July 2007 he served as the Chief Executive Officer. In his term as CEO, the Bank has grown its balance sheet threefold, has built a strong national retail banking franchise, and has further expanded its corporate and investment banking operations. In one of the most recent acknowledgements of this success, Euromoney magazine named Alfa-Bank the “Best Bank in Russia” in 2007. In the same year, KPMG rated Alfa-Bank for the “Best Overall Customer Experience” among its Russian and international peers.
Smida joined Alfa-Bank in November 2003 from General Electric where he was Senior Vice-President at GE Consumer Finance (USA). Prior to that, Smida spent four years as Chairman and CEO of GE Capital Bank, Prague.
Petr Smida was born in the Czech Republic on 2 February, 1963. He graduated from the University of Economics in Prague.
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