Business programme

Russia’s financial landscape is rapidly changing. Banks are developing new services that provide customers with new advantages in the lifestyle and retail sectors, as well as the ability to order household appliances and buy entertainment tickets right in their apps. Marketplaces are actively introducing financial payment services and cards, and are trying to encroach on the territory of banks. On the one hand, marketplaces have all the ingredients for a successful strategy, including extensive multimillion-dollar customer bases and an understanding of their preferences. On the other hand, is it possible to build a truly successful fintech organization without a banking financial model? Who will control the market: marketplaces or banks?

Moderator
Ksenia Sobchak, Journalist

Ksenia Sobchak

Journalist

Panellists
Tatyana Bakalchuk, General Director, Wildberries (online)
Sergey Belyakov, Managing Director, Ozon
Vladimir Verkhoshinskiy, Head of Alfa-Bank
Georgiy Gorshkov, Deputy President - Chairman of the Board, VTB Bank
Ivan Guz, Managing Partner, Avito
Alexey Guznov, Secretary of State – Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, Member of the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation
Maksut Shadaev, Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation

Tatyana Bakalchuk

General Director, Wildberries

Sergey Belyakov

Managing Director, Ozon

Sergey joined Ozon in 2021 to oversee strategic projects and initiatives tied to the Company's e-commerce development. A longtime civil servant, Sergey worked at the Russian Ministry of Economic Development from 2008, going on to serve as Deputy Minister from 2012 to 2014. Prior to joining the Ministry, he worked at the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs. In 2016, Sergey was elected President of the Alliance of Pension Funds, an association of non-governmental pension funds. From 2018 to 2021 he headed the Russian Association of Retail Companies (AKORT). Sergey holds a degree in Law from the Academy of the Federal Security Service of Russia.

Vladimir Verkhoshinskiy

Head of Alfa-Bank

Vladimir Verkhoshinskiy was appointed Chief Executive Officer of Alfa-Bank on August 1, 2018.
Before Mr. Verkhoshinskiy joined Alfa-Bank, he held various positions at VTB Group. He served as Vice-President and Head of Corporate Business Development and Strategy at VTB Bank from 2009 till 2011. He became Deputy President and Chairman of the Board at the Bank of Moscow in January 2012 to oversee the Retail and Small Business division, mortgage lending, and private banking service. In May 2016, Mr. Verkhoshinskiy returned to VTB Bank after its merger with the Bank of Moscow to oversee Retail Business as a member of the Board.
Prior to his employment with VTB Group, Vladimir Verkhoshinskiy worked for the Moscow offices of Citibank, the investment fund VR Capital, and the consulting company McKinsey&Co.
Mr. Verkhoshinskiy is a cum-laude graduate of the Finance Academy of the Russian Government majoring in Finance and Credit and a holder of the Presidential Scholarship. He holds a Master of Business Administration degree and Public Management Program degree of Stanford University (USA).

Georgiy Gorshkov

Deputy President - Chairman of the Board, VTB Bank

Georgy Gorshkov was born in 1975. In 1997, he graduated from the Academy of National Economy under the Government of the Russian Federation, and in 1999, he received an MBA from Imperial College Management School in London. He holds a Ph.D. in Economic Sciences. From 1994 to 2002, he worked as Deputy General Director of LLC Creative Marketing Group; from 2002 to 2004 as General Director of LLC CMG Strategy; from 2004 to 2008 as Senior Vice President, Director of Marketing Department, and Director of Card Development Department of Russian Standard Bank. From 2008 to 2012 he worked as Senior Vice President, Director of Retail Business Department of VTB24. From 2012 to 2016, he was First Deputy President-Chairman of the Board of Leto Bank and became First Deputy President-Chairman of the Board of Post Bank in March 2016.

Ivan Guz

Managing Partner, Avito

Ivan Guz joined Avito in 2013 and has been heading the company since 2023 together with Sergey Piven, Managing Partner for Business Support. Ivan is responsible for the development of all Avito business areas, product and technology, financial services, corporate environment, talent attraction, marketing and communications.

Ivan has been active in the IT industry for more than 10 years. He was promoted from Head of Analytics at Avito (2013), having built this position in the company from the ground up, to the company’s Top Manager.

Between 2010 and 2013, he was engaged in the design and implementation of IBM SPSS analytical products (manufacturer and supplier of hardware and software, IT services and consulting services).

From 2006 to 2010, he worked at Forecsys, where he rose from Analyst to Operations Director (developer and integrator of software technologies in the field of data analysis, forecasting and optimization of business processes based on AI systems).

Ivan graduated from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology with a major in Applied Mathematics and Physics and was awarded the degree of Candidate of Physical and Mathematical Sciences in machine learning.

Alexey Guznov

Secretary of State – Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, Member of the Board of Directors of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation

Born on 18 June 1967 in Gorky.

Education
1990: graduated from the Lomonosov Moscow State University.

Candidate of Juridical Sciences (1994); Doctor of Juridical Sciences (2016).

Author of over 80 publications on the theory of law and financial regulation, including tutorials and monographs.

Career
1984–1985: Assembly Mechanic at the Gorky Institute Salyut, Gorky.

1985–1990: student at the the Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow.

1990–1991: Legal Advisor (contractor) at the Leisure Centre of the Oktyabrsky District, Moscow.

1991: Legal Team Leader at the International Association of Parliamentarians, Moscow.

1991–1992: Assistant to the Chairman of the Council of the Union of the USSR Supreme Council, Moscow.

1992–1994: Planning Team Leader, Deputy Chief of the Parliamentarianism Section at the Parliamentary Centre of the Russian Federation, Moscow.

1995–1997: Deputy Head of Section, Head of Section in the Banking Legislation Division of the Legal Department at the Bank of Russia, Moscow.

1997–1998: Deputy Head of the Division for Legal Support of Banking Operations of the Bank of Russia’s Legal Department, Moscow.

1998–2002: Deputy Director — Head of the Division for Legal Support of Banking Operations of the Bank of Russia’s Legal Department, Moscow.

2002–2014: Deputy Director of the Bank of Russia’s Legal Department, Moscow.

2014–2022: Director of the Bank of Russia’s Legal Department, Moscow.

Since 2022: State Secretary — Deputy Governor of Bank of Russia.

Member of the Bank of Russia Board of Directors (since 10 October 2018).

He holds the title of Honoured Lawyer of the Russian Federation; the medal of the Order ‘For Merit to the Fatherland’ 2nd class; awards of the Federation Council and the State Duma of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation; and awards of Russian ministries. Themis Award winner.

Maksut Shadaev

Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation

Born in 1979 in Moscow

2004: Graduated from Moscow State Social University, now Russian State Social University

1999-2004: Held managerial positions in the IT and communications sector, including at IBC Group where he headed the internet solutions division’s business development department and also worked as Director for Business Development.

2004: Advisor to the Minister and Director of the Department of State Programmes, Infrastructure Development and Use of Constrained Resources at the Ministry of Information Technology and Communications of the Russian Federation.

2008: Assistant to the Head of the Presidential Executive Office of the Russian Federation. Oversaw the organisation of the work of the Russian Presidential Council for Information Society Development.

February 2009: Listed among the top 100 members of the Management Personnel Pool under the Russian President’s Patronage.

2012: Advisor to the Speaker of the State Duma of the Russian Federation.

2014: Minister of Public Administration, Information Technology and Communications of the Moscow Region.

2016: Deputy Chairman of the Government of the Moscow Region.

September 2018: Vice President for Digital Platforms at Rostelecom.

February 2019: Combined this position with that of RT Labs Director General.

21 January 2020: Appointed Minister of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media of the Russian Federation by Presidential Executive Order.

Front row participant
Nikita Filippov, Head, “De jure” Bureau of Lawyers

Nikita Filippov

Head, “De jure” Bureau of Lawyers