NBU approves Swedish banker Bjorknert as state-owned PrivatBank's new CEO

MOSCOW. Jan 17 (Interfax) - The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) has approved Swedish banking executive Mikael Bjorknert as the CEO of the state-owned PrivatBank based in Kiev on January 16, he will officially start performing duties in the new capacity on January 20, Ukrainian media outlets said with a reference to the NBU's statement.

"It is an honor and a great responsibility for me to lead Ukraine's largest bank today," the statement quoted Bjorknert as saying.

As reported, on October 7, 2024, PrivatBank's supervisory board announced Bjorknert's election as the CEO, replacing Gerhard Boesch, who had been prematurely dismissed after leading the bank for more than three years.

Bjorknert has been working in the financial sector for over 25 years. Most recently, he held the position of head of the banking business department at Swedbank, where he was responsible for a range of banking services, from retail and corporate banking to operations and digital transformation.

Before joining Swedbank, Bjorknert held the post of chairman of the board of directors at Sweden's Bankgirot, head of global transaction services as Estonia's SEB Bank, and a member of the Nasdaq board of directors in Sweden.

According to the NBU, PrivatBank was ranked first by total assets (UAH 942.2 billion) out of 62 banks operating in the country as of December 1, 2024. PrivatBank posted net profit of UAH 56.31 billion in January-November 2024.