Andrey Borodin is a Russian financial expert, banker, economist and businessman. He was, since 1995, the President of the Bank of Moscow, one of Russia’s most successful banks.
Borodin was born in Moscow, under the communist regime, in 1967. He spent his childhood in the city, and after graduating from a specialist physics and mathematics school, undertook two years’ compulsory military service.
Building on his interest in mathematics, he then studied at the International Economics Department at the Moscow Finance Institute, from where he graduated with honours in 1991 with a degree in International Economics and Finance. That programme included studying economics at the University of Passau in Germany between 1989 and 1990.
After graduating, he worked for Dresdner Bank in Germany on an 18-month training course in Dortmund. He then moved to Frankfurt to work at the bank’s head office in the Financial Institutions Department. Over this period, he gained exposure to the operations of a major international bank, from the simplest cash transactions to derivatives trading.
He left Dresdner Bank in late 1993 and in March 1994 started working for the Government of Moscow as an economics and finance adviser to the Mayor of Moscow, Yury Luzhkov. He was appointed because of his experience in international banking, which at the time was both relatively rare in Russia and highly sought after.
Government bodies in Russia were eager for the economic expertise required to undertake the economic reforms being pursued by then-President Yeltsin, in the hope of effecting a rapid transition from communism to a Western-style market economy. The opportunities afforded by this transition had made Moscow a centre of interest for international investors.
During this period, although still young, Borodin was involved with several notable deals which saved the City Government a considerable amount of money. One negotiation was with the Mercedes-Benz bus dealer, who was asking almost double the proper price for the buses which some staff of the City’s Transport Department were lobbying to buy. In another case, McDonald’s wished to buy a 51% stake in the Moscow-McDonald’s joint venture, which was owned by the City. The initial offer was around USD3m, but Borodin helped convince the US partner to increase it to USD29m.
The Bank of Moscow
In March 1995 the Moscow City Government established a joint-stock company, Moscow Municipal Bank – Bank of Moscow, which went on to become simply Bank of Moscow. Andrey Borodin was appointed President of the company.
Over the next 16 years, under Borodin’s careful stewardship, the Bank grew from a fledgling operation with six employees, operating from basement offices, to become a major international financial institution.
Between 1996 and 2003, Bank of Moscow rose from 47th to 8th place in the list of top-equity Russian banks. Euromoney magazine named it Best Bank in Russia in 2000, and it has received numerous awards from recognised publications and financial agencies. Under Borodin’s leadership, Bank of Moscow was, from 2007, one of only a handful of banks in the country with an investment grade rating. The Bank’s brand value alone has been estimated at more than US$800 million.
In 2000 and 2001 Andrey Borodin was named Best Banker of the year in Russia by The Banker magazine, while The Company magazine named him Best Manager of the Year in Russia in 2001 and Best Manager in Financial Sector in Russia in 2003. In 2008, he was ranked by Profile magazine as one of the top ten most influential financial experts in Russia. In 2010, Kommersant ranked him fifth in the list of top executives in the Commercial Banks category.
Throughout its 16-year history, Bank of Moscow has been financially successful but also socially-minded. It is a substantial benefactor of the Russian Orthodox Church and donated money to socially unprotected groups, as well as to charities supporting sport facilities for children. It provides continuing support for the children of Beslan. In 2002, Borodin was named Donor of the Year in Russia by Sovershenno Sekretno magazine. Privately, he and his wife set up the charitable foundation Dobroserdiye, which helps improve the lives of orphans across Russia.
Borodin has a wide range of business roles. In 1996, he joined the Board of Directors at the Podolsk non-ferrous metals plant, JSC, and headed the Board of Directors at the commercial bank Ogni Moskvy Ltd. In 1997 he joined the Board of Directors at the commercial bank Mosvodokanal. Since 1997 he has also been Chairman of the Board of Directors of the investment company Troika Dialog. From 2000 to 2009 he was Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Moscow Insurance Company, but handed the position over to Yuri Gorbatov in 2009, remaining on the Board.
Other positions held by Borodin include: Vice-President of the Association of Russian Banks; member of the council of the Moscow Bank Union; member of the exchange council of the Moscow Stock Exchange; coordination council chairman of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs in the Central Federal district of the Russian Federation; member of the Board of Governors of the Church Scholar Centre, “Orthodox Encyclopaedia”; member of the Board of Governors of the Finance Academy under the Russian Federation Government, and member of the Board of Governors of the National History Centre project Serving the Country. He is also a member of the council of the Russian Economic School, headed by Arkady Dvorkovich.
He has won numerous awards including: the Order of Friendship (2007); The Order of Merit for the Motherland of the second degree (1997); a medal in honour of Moscow’s 850th anniversary; the Ministry of Defence Admiral Kuznetsov medal; a medal commemorating the 60th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic War (2005); the Order of Saint Blessed Prince Daniel of Moscow of the third degree, and Order of the Reverend Saint Sergius of Radonezh of the second and third degrees.
Andrey Borodin is married and has three children.