Valeria Gontareva became the first woman to lead the Ukraine's central bank two years ago, after more than 20 years in the country’s financial sector.
Some in the Ukrainian media have dubbed her the “iron lady” for her radical cleanup of the banking system – 77 of 180 banks have been declared insolvent or under temporary administration since her appointment in 2014.
Her critics, however, say she merely declared the obvious – that the banks were dead and stripped of their assets by the time she arrived on the scene of the ghastly disaster.
She is faulted for being an insider close to President Petro Poroshenko who has shown no interest in determining who is criminally responsible for Ukraine’s massive bank fraud.
She is hailed as fearless by her fans and as someone who does not take criticism well by her critics.
The 51-year-old governor of the National Bank of Ukraine comes from Dnipro. She dreamed of becoming a physicist and got her first university degree at Instrument Engineering Department at Kyiv Polytechnic Institute, in 1981-1987. But that career didn’t pay much, so she started a career in the banking sector. She received a master’s degree in economics in 1997 from Kyiv National Economic University.
In 1993, she was hired as a senior economist to the recently established Ukrainian Interbank Currency Exchange. The institution laid the foundations of the foreign exchange market after the fall of the Soviet Union. She worked there until 1996.
The following decade saw Gontareva take on increasingly senior roles at foreign banks, starting with a stint on the board of directors at the Ukrainian subsidiary of French Société Générale from 1997 to January 2001.
From there, she was appointed as first deputy CEO at Ukrainian subsidiary of Dutch bank ING.
Managing the president’s money
In December 2007, Gontareva moved from foreign banking to become CEO of Investment Capital Ukraine, an investment firm that had been founded the year before.
Under her control, the group became the biggest player on the market of asset management and trading operations in Ukraine.
In the years since, the company has become famous as the money manager of President Petro Poroshenko. Gontareva has known Poroshenko since for more than a decade when she was helping in developing his Mriya business.
“Poroshenko wasn’t the biggest client of ICU,” Gontareva told Ukrainska Pravda in a recent interview. “I think if another ICU client were to become president, there would be much more to talk about.”
The firm has been mired in a number of scandals involving alleged tax evasion by Poroshenko and misconduct on the part of Gontareva herself.
Poroshenko hired ICU to sell his business assets, including Roshen confectionery, in August 2014. But in early April 2016, documents released in the Panama Papers leak revealed that ICU had set up an offshore company for Poroshenko’s businesses, potentially concealing them from Ukrainian tax obligations.
Another Panama Papers investigation revealed that Poroshenko moved up to 4 million euros offshore while in office, in possible violation of National Bank of Ukraine regulations. She says, however, the transaction in question did not require an NBU license — meaning no money was transferred abroad. ICU Managing Director Makar Paseniuk, a Gontareva colleague from ING, said that the transactions occurred as part of a corporate restructuring.
In September 2013, Gontareva was also appointed as head of the supervisory committee board at ICU subsidiary Avangard Bank.
According to NBU data, as of January 2016, the bank was owned by Investment Capital Ukraine executive directors Kostyantyn Stetsenko and Paseniuk (both have 47.7 percent).
Two 10 percent stakes in the company belong to Ukraine’s former Energy Minister Volodymyr Demchyshyn and incumbent director of Investment Capital Ukraine analytical department Aleksandr Valchishen.
In June 2014, Gontareva left Avangard and Investment Capital Ukraine to head Ukraine’s central bank at the invitation of Poroshenko. Before taking the position, she sold her 22.7 percent stake in Investment Capital Ukraine to the company.
The NBU chief has been criticized for allowing multiple banks, owned by politically connected people, to be looted before going bankrupt.
Gontareva’s predecessor was Deputy Prime Minister Stepan Kubiv, who quit the post of NBU head in 2014 with the intention to pursue a political career. Gontareva’s official monthly salary is Hr 163,000 ($6,500). Married with two sons, Gontareva sports a tattoo on her shoulder that says, “Do you still love me?” A tattoo on her husband’s shoulder says: “Yes, I do.”
According to her 2015 declaration, she owns a Porsche Panamera (2012), Porsche Cayenne (2013), 106-square meter apartment, 250-square meter house and 900 square meters land patch. Those items she purchases before taking the NBU post.
Kyiv Post staff writer Josh Kovensky contributed to this report.
