OREANDA-NEWS. November 30, 2012. Citibank announced the appointment of Michael Berner as Russia Consumer Business Manager. It is for the first time that the key post in Consumer business has been taken by a Russian local, one of the bank’s veterans. This appointment is effective 1 December, 2012, reported the press-centre of Citibank. 

In his new role he will be responsible for the development strategy of all aspects of the consumer business, including consumer lending, wealth management, salary services, electronic business, branches and other distribution channels. Michael will continue to be Member of the Board of ZAO Citibank. His predecessor Amit Sah, in his turn, has been promoted to EMEA Retail Banking Head.

Michael Berner has worked at Citi for 10 years. During this time at the bank he has held a number of senior positions in various segments of the consumer business. Michael was one of the first and key employees who opened the credit card business in Russia, and under his leadership a number of innovative products and partnership programs were launched, many of which were new to the Russian financial services market. Such projects include the launch of the first credit card with a grace period and also the first cobranded bankcards in Russia. From 2005 to 2006 Michael worked at Citi’s regional headquarters in London and oversaw the development of distribution channels for credit cards in 24 countries of the EMEA region. For the past 3 years Michael has served as Consumer Lending Business Director and was responsible for lending to retail clients, a business that has been growing steadily recently.

Zdenek Turek, Country Officer for Citi in Russia and CEE Division Head: “Over the past three years our consumer business in Russia has shown strong growth in all of its indicators and we continue to be confident about the great potential of the Russian market. We are also proud of our local bench of talent in Russia which has grown into a strong management team. Michael is a unique top manager: he combines youth, talent and energy with deep professional experience and has the reputation of a builder of our Russian consumer banking business. We are counting on his leadership qualities and also his understanding of the Russian banking sector to help him take Citi’s business to a higher level.”

“I perceive further improvement of quality service as one of my key priorities in the new role. I am confident that Citi has the capabilities to become the top bank in Russia by this indicator. In addition to that, we will continue to empower our clients through launch of new technologies and innovative products,” Michael Berner said.

Michael graduated from the Moscow Automobile and Road Institute (MADI) and received a degree in financial management from the Finance Academy under the Government of the Russian Federation. He is married and has a daughter.