Viktor Gerashchenko Net Worth

Biography of Viktor Gerashchenko

Viktor Vladimirovich Gerashchenko is a legendary financier who served four times as chairman of the board of the main state bank: before the collapse of the USSR – the State Bank of the Soviet Union, after the cessation of its existence – the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, the last head of the Yukos oil company declared bankrupt.

In financial circles, the high authority of the banker is emphasized, not only among Russian banking professionals, but also in international structures where he happened to represent the country – at the IMF, at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, at MIGA (the World Bank branch for providing guarantees to investors) and others.

Childhood and family of Viktor Gerashchenko

The future famous banker was born on December 21, 1937 in the Northern capital. His father, Vladimir Sergeevich, headed the financial and economic institute, and when his son was 11 years old, he was appointed to the post of deputy head of the State Bank of the USSR. According to the president of the Association of Russian Banks, Sergei Yegorov, he was a man of the highest erudition and broad progressive views.

Their family was large. First, my mother, Anastasia Vasilyevna, had two twin girls, then Victor and his brother (also twins), and then a younger sister. According to the stories of relatives, the father, taking his wife from the hospital for the third time, surprised the staff with the question: “Where is another daughter?” – so used to it that the kids appeared with them immediately “in pairs”.

Viti’s childhood coincided with the tragic period of the Great Patriotic War. The family was evacuated to Kazan, then they moved to Kuibyshev (now Samara), and in 1944 to Moscow. They got to their new place of residence in a cash-in-transit railway car, on the way they frolicked with their sister right on the bags, in which money tinkled. One could even say, as Gerashchenko, famous for his great sense of humor, later noted, that at that very moment he decided to become a banker.

Children rarely saw their dad at home – all state employees belonging to the leadership team worked from morning until late at night. They talked mostly on Sundays. But friends and acquaintances often came to visit them, drank tea or homemade wine together, my mother cooked a special cabbage pie. Vitya liked such gatherings, the boy was interested in listening to stories and instructive stories of adults.

The beginning of the career of Viktor Gerashchenko

Initially, the young man planned to become a lawyer, but then, heeding the advice of one of his relatives, he entered a financial institution. In 1960, he completed his studies at the university and ended up at the State Bank, where he was appointed an accountant in the department of foreign operations, in 1961 he moved to Vneshtorgbank.

In 1963, Viktor Vladimirovich had an internship at the Moscow Narodny Bank (MNB, Moscow Narodny Bank), established in the UK, where he gained an impressive amount of knowledge about the functioning of foreign banking systems. Returning to his homeland, the novice banker was appointed head of a department at Vnesheconombank. Having proven himself excellently as a leader, in 1965 he was again sent to the London Ministry of National Security. There he quickly became its director. In 1967, the financier took the post of deputy manager of the branch of this banking institution in Beirut, and two years later became its manager.

The financier returned to Moscow in 1972, starting his career as a deputy head of the department of Vneshtorgbank, then its head. In 1974, Viktor Vladimirovich went on another business trip abroad to head the USSR-owned Ost-West Handelsbank in Germany. He did not know German, but he could not refuse for the reason that the head of this institution had a heart attack. In 1977, he was again transferred to manage a division of the MNB – now to Singapore.

Gerashchenko was usually sent to those departments that had difficulty ensuring timely fulfillment of obligations. He always managed to cope with these and many other problems thanks to professionalism, determination, strong will, courage in making decisions. For the same reason, among his colleagues, he received the nickname Hercules, who, as you know, performed many fearless feats.

In 1982, an experienced professional was returned from abroad, and he continued to work at Vnesheconombank. Soon he took the post of deputy chairman of the board. Then, in 1989, Viktor Vladimirovich went to work at the State Bank, leading it.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, he remained in charge of the main bank, and with it the entire national credit and banking system. The financier left this post involuntarily, after the events associated with the collapse of the domestic currency in 1994. Then for about two years he headed the International Moscow Bank. After the crisis year of 1998, the banker returned to the chair of the head of the Central Bank, which he held until 2002.

After leaving office, he became a State Duma deputy, and in 2004 took over the leadership of Yukos, trying to resolve the existing conflict with the country’s leadership and save the enterprise.

Personal life of Viktor Gerashchenko

The ex-head of the Central Bank is married. With his life partner, Nina Gerashchenko (nee Drozdkova), he met during a joint study at the Moscow Financial Institute. The couple raised two children. In 1961, daughter Tanya was born, in 1969 – son Kostya.

The daughter happened to attend a kindergarten in London, a pre-school institution of the Soviet trade mission, because it was forbidden for a Soviet banker to send children to a local kindergarten (so that the child learns the language). Tatyana went to school already in Lebanon. She really liked to study, and it was there that she decided to become a primary school teacher.

When the head of the family was assigned to Germany, his wife and children remained in Moscow. He was very bored, felt lonely, regretted that the children grew up without him, although he tried to be at home at least once a month. When Victor was transferred to Singapore, he always flew to the central office in Britain via Moscow to stay with his family for 2-3 days.

The children attended a regular school in Fili and studied well. Having matured, Tanya entered the Pedagogical Institute, got married in her last year, worked at school for 4 years. After a break due to the birth of a child, due to the low salary of a teacher, she retrained as an employee in the financial sector. After graduating from accounting courses, Tatyana became an accountant in an insurance company.

The son played rugby for a long time, but on the advice of his father, he chose to enter the Institute of Economics and Statistics over a sports career. In his second year, he was drafted into the army. He served in the Marine Corps in the North. After demobilization, he transferred to the evening department, got married, worked in the credit department of one of the banks.

The children gave the grandfather four boy grandchildren – two – a daughter, two – a son. The eldest grandchildren have already continued the family dynasty of financiers – one entered the MESI, the second – to the banking school.

Viktor Vladimirovich lives in the Moscow region and considers the best vacation for himself – when it snows, pick up a shovel and clear paths in the yard.

Viktor Gerashchenko today

On the day of his 75th birthday, the legendary banker asked the guests invited to the celebration of the anniversary, instead of gifts, to support the Podari Zhizn charitable organization, organized by Dina Korzun and Chulpan Khamatova and raising funds to help children with cancer.

A top-class professional in an interview in 2016 noted that the difficult situation in the domestic economy would drag on for a long time, requiring serious and lengthy restructuring. But the banking system, according to the ex-banker, needs to be restructured immediately, improve and adjust legislation to new realities, radically change the staffing strategy with the development of a progressive policy for the selection and training of qualified employees in the financial sector.

The ex-head of the Central Bank has an honorary professorship and the degree of Doctor of Science, has been awarded many state awards, including the Order of Honor, the Order of Merit for the Fatherland, III and IV degrees.