Sergii Naumov, 51, has become the head of Oschadbank, signing a five-year contract with the state-owned bank on Nov. 3.
A former CEO of the Ukrainian branch of private Greek Piraeus Bank, Naumov’s main priority will now be to privatizate state-owned Oschadbank, the second-biggest bank in Ukraine that currently has 6 million active bank cards and Hr 224 billion in assets.
“In the new position, my main task is either the partial or full sale of the financial institution to investors,” Naumov said in a statement published on Nov. 3 on the Oschadbank website. “This step is necessary for reducing the state’s share in the banking sector and returning investors to state-owned banks.”
By 2025, the state’s share in the banking sector must be reduced from 60% to 25%, according to the strategy of the Cabinet of Ministers published on Sept. 2.
The strategy determines the main areas for further development of Oschadbank that Naumov will work on, apart from the privatization. For example, he must develop services for all customer groups and further expand the bank’s online services and its IT system. The bank must also keep working on reducing its non-performing assets.
Naumov has extensive experience in banking and finance: He worked at auditor PwC and banks Raiffeisen Bank, Ukrsibbank, Pravex Bank, Sberbank and Piraeus Bank. At three of them — Ukrsibbank, Pravex Bank, and Piraeus Bank — he was CEO.
Experts in banking see Naumov’s work is efficient. Ruslan Chornyi, managing partner at Financial Club, a banking research firm, for example, says Naumov usually proves his worth quickly.
“He was appointed deputy chairman of Ukrsibbank and right away became the chairman of the bank. He is very well versed in corporate affairs and was probably one of the best heads of this bank,” Chornyi told the Kyiv Post.
However, according to Chornyi, over the last years, Naumov has led banks smaller than Oschadbank, so it may be more difficult for him to now manage the state bank.
“These two foreign banks (Pravex Bank and Piraeus Bank) have a clear European (corporate) model, when decisions are made according to the procedure,” Chornyi said. “In our state-owned banks, the structure of corporate governance is slightly different. It hasn’t yet come to a European order.”
Alexander Pisaruk, CEO of Raiffeisen Bank Aval, assesses Naumov’s achievements positively, too.
“I have a positive attitude to the appointment of Serhii Naumov as the chairman of the board of Oschadbank. Naumov is one of the best bankers on the Ukrainian market. I’ve known him for more than twenty years as an honest, principled and professional man.”
Pisaruk adds that Naumov can achieve success in privatization, but there are nuances.
“We shouldn’t expect that this will be possible in the coming years, because this requires a lot of work to improve the quality of the loan portfolio, increase efficiency and increase profitability of the bank,” he said. “Naumov will cope with these tasks with the appropriate support of the supervisory board and the single shareholder of Oschadbank”.
Until Naumov’s appointment the bank was headed by Andriy Pyshnyy, 46, who had been in charge since 2014. In a post on Facebook, Pyshnyy said he’s grateful for every day he worked at the bank.
“This was a privilege and huge responsibility,” he wrote on Facebook. Ukraine’s top managers, journalists and entrepreneurs published on Nov. 3 at least 45 posts on Pyshnyy’s page on the social media site, praising his work at the bank.
