OREANDA-NEWS. November 26, 2009. Mikhail Fridman, Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Alfa Group Consortium, visited Annual key employees conference of Alfa-Bank (Ukraine ) which took place in Premier Palace, reported the press-centre of Alfa-Bank.

In his speech Mr. Fridman emphasized that banking business in Ukraine is a strategically important asset of the Group and shareholders are ready to invest in the Bank’s development in Ukraine . He also mentioned that Ukrainian management team has successfully coped with 2009 tasks. Effective work was done in restructuring of the loan portfolio, growth of retail deposit portfolio and optimization of the Bank’s costs.

“Shareholders took a decision to increase capital of the Bank. Formal procedures have been started and are planned to be finished within the nearest several months. – Mr. Fridman said. – The amount of increase is discussed at the moment and will depend on the Bank’s needs and business development plans of the management team”. Mr. Fridman also mentioned that in addition to share capital increase, shareholders are ready to provide funding to the Bank to finance loans of the reliable clients.

Mikhail Fridman is Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Alfa Group Consortium . Mr. Fridman is an original founder of Alfa Group Consortium, one of Russia ’s largest privately owned financial-industrial conglomerates. Mr. Fridman also serves as Chairman of the Board of Directors of TNK-BP and is a member of the Board of Directors of ABH Holdings Corp. (holding company of Alfa-Banking Group), VimpelCom and the Supervisory Board of Directors of X5 Retail Group N.V. Mr. Fridman is a member of the Board of Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs and the International Advisory Board of the Council on Foreign Relations (USA). He graduated from the Moscow Institute of Steel and Alloys in 1986. Mr. Fridman was born in Lvov, Ukraine in 1964.

Alfa-Bank (Ukraine) is one of the privately-owned banks in Ukraine that is part of the international Alfa Group Consortium. The Bank holds leading positions in all segments of the Ukrainian banking sector. According to National Bank of Ukraine statistics, the Bank was the 7th largest bank in Ukraine in terms of total assets and among leaders in terms of customer accounts of legal entities as of October 1, 2009.