Igor Shuvalov may head Vnesheconombank

Former First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov, who was not included in the new government, may head Vnesheconombank, sources tell The Bell. The appointment could be announced as early as today.

Details

• Shuvalov’s appointment to Vnesheconombank could be announced today, an official from one of the relevant ministries told The Bell. According to his information, Vladimir Putin made a corresponding proposal to Shuvalov last week, and he agreed.
• VEB is aware of Shuvalov’s possible appointment, says another The Bell source familiar with the situation at the bank. But there is no information that the decision has been made and there is no “signed paper” yet, he says.
• The telegram channel of financial journalist Elena Tofanyuk Fun&Profit wrote on Saturday that Shuvalov agreed to head the bank, indicating that he was unable to obtain confirmation of this information.

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• As First Deputy Prime Minister, Shuvalov was a member of the supervisory board of Vnesheconombank, and in the government he oversaw the creation on the basis of VEB of a “project financing factory” - a new mechanism for investment in public-private projects, which should start operating in 2018. Several years ago, Shuvalov wanted to leave the government “either for private business or for Vnesheconombank,” a friend of the official told the Dozhd TV channel.

Shuvalov's representative was unavailable for comment.

Context

• Shuvalov worked in the government for 10 years, since 2008, and wanted to leave even during the previous change of cabinet, in 2012, hoping for the post of head of the presidential administration, his acquaintance recently told Vedomosti.
• Vedomosti and Dozhd sources named Shuvalov’s possible future place of work at Moscow State University, where he could be responsible for the Scientific and Technical Valley project, which is being worked on by the Innopraktika foundation of Vladimir Putin’s daughter Katerina Tikhonova. Rusnano and even the Central Bank were mentioned as other options.
• The current head of VEB, Sergei Gorkov, a graduate of the FSB Academy and former HR deputy of German Gref at Sberbank, headed the bank at the beginning of 2016, replacing Vladimir Dmitriev. By that time, VEB was in a deep crisis: it financed state support for large businesses during the 2008-2009 crisis, Olympic construction in Sochi and political business projects in Ukraine, and as a result accumulated bad debts worth 1.4 trillion rubles. Clearing this portfolio is still ongoing. In 2016-2018, VEB received at least 400 billion rubles from the budget in the form of subsidies alone. At the same time, in 2017 the bank showed a record net loss of 287.7 billion rubles.

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Petr Mironenko, Irina Malkova