Petr Smida Appointed Chief Executive Officer of Alfa Bank, Russia
02 Feb 2004
Petr Smida will be responsible for the Bank's general management and strategy.
Smida joined Alfa Bank in November 2003 from General Electric where he was Senior Vice President at GE Consumer Finance, USA, a company covering 36 countries across the Globe. Prior to that, Smida spent four years as a Chairman and CEO at GE Capital Bank, Prague, one of the leading Consumer and Commercial banks in the Check Republic with assets of $ 2.2 Billion. Since 1999 Smida consistently ranked within the top Czech managers and bankers. Petr Smida was born in Czech Republic on February 02, 1963. He graduated from the University of Economics in Prague.
Mikhail Fridman, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alfa Group Consortium, noted: "I want to thank Alex Knaster for his contribution to the success of Alfa Bank and am delighted that we have been able to recruit Petr Smida, a respected and accomplished professionals with a strong reputation in the world's financial markets. This appointment underlines Alfa Bank's continued commitment to western standards of corporate governance and excellence in performance".
In his five years as CEO of Alfa Bank, Alex Knaster has transformed Alfa Bank into the leading financial institution in Russia. He steered the bank through the financial crisis and oversaw a ten fold growth in assets and capital. Under his leadership, Alfa Bank became a universal bank with a greatly expanded geographic presence and breadth of products and services.
Knaster will move to Alfa Group as a board member, responsible for Alfa's investment activities. He will remain a member of the Board of Directors of Alfa Bank and of TNK-BP.
"Alfa Group has a strong portfolio of assets and the financial strength to take advantage of new opportunities. We feel confident that with Alex's involvement, the Group will continue its track record of successful strategic transactions," says Fridman.
Founded in 1990 Alfa Bank is Russia's largest private banking group. Alfa Bank provides a full range of banking services - commercial banking, retail banking, investment banking, asset management and insurance. The Bank has more than 100 branches across Russia and the CIS and fully licensed banking subsidiaries in Ukraine, Kazakhstan and the Netherlands. The Bank's fast growing brokerage business has a FSA authorised arm in London and a NASD registered Broker Dealer in New York.
Alfa Bank has won numerous awards, including "Best Russian Bank", "Best Trade Finance Bank" and "Best M&A Advisor" in Russia.
Alfa Bank is rated B+ by Fitch IBCA, Ba2 by Moody's and B by Standard & Poor's.
Alfa Bank has a long history of supporting charities, Russian culture and creating programs for young talent.
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