OREANDA-NEWS. December 31, 2013. The Member of the Council of Rietumu Bank Alexander Gafin has been included in the Top 100 most popular Russian entrepreneurs, composed by the international lifestyle magazine Tatler.

The rating of the most popular businessmen of Russia is published in the New Year’s edition of this popular magazine.

Experts invited by Tatler to compile the list, included Alisher Usmanov, the richest man in Russia according to the Bloomberg, the oppositional billionaire Mikhail Prokhorov, the ex-Minister of Finance of Russia Alexei Kudrin, the President of VTB Bank Andrey Kostin and other reputed and successful Russian entrepreneurs. Alexander Gafin occupies 13 th place in the list.

Commenting on his attitude to number 13, Mr Gafin noted that firstly, he is not superstitious, and secondly, that any place in a list of such highly established company deserves respect, “I am pleased that Tatler magazine rates me so highly and that I am among such esteemed company.”

As Tatler notes when introducing its rating, such a high position of a Member of the Rietumu Bank Council owes to the active popularisation of Latvia, Riga and Jurmala in the circles of the Russian artistic and business elite. It is well-known that in recent years Latvia is becoming a second home for an increasing number of Russian show-business stars and entrepreneurs. Gennady Khazanov, Emmanuil Vitorgan, Vladimir Vinokur, Larisa Dolina, Mikhail Yefremov, Sergey Svetlakov and many other stage, theatre and movie stars have acquired real estate and live in Jurmala. Among the biggest investors in the Latvian economy are entrepreneurs and bankers such as Victor Vekselberg, Igor Kim, Andrey Molchanov, Igor Tsyplakov, the brothers Andrey and Sergey Beskhmelnitsky.

“I am especially pleased that when promoting our Rietumu Bank, which is by the way, the biggest and most profitable private bank in this Baltic country, I am able to say a lot of good things about Jurmala and Latvia, about the local culture, nature and people. It brings me real pleasure, as I love Jurmala very much and for many years I have spent most of my time in Jurmala. In fact, it is really my second home,” says Alexander Gafin.

Banker expressed hope that the adoption of the euro in Latvia will be painless and the national economy, which is now the most rapidly growing in the EU, will continue to develop dynamically.

“I would like to wish a very Happy New Year to all my friends and colleagues, both in Latvia and Russia, and to our countries and people. I wish for more happy children to be born and for our lives to change for the best even faster. Come to Latvia and fall in love with the country like I did!” says Mr Gafin.