Supervisory Board

Supervisory Board

Evgeni Lukanov - Chairman of the Supervisory Board

Mr. Lukanov joined First Investment Bank AD in 1998 as Deputy Director, and later as Director and General Manager of the Tirana Branch, Albania. From 2001 to 2003 he was Director of the Bank’s Vitosha Branch (Sofia).

Mr. Lukanov has occupied a number of senior positions with First Investment Bank AD. From 2003 to 2007 he was Director of the Risk Management Department and Member of the Managing Board. From 2004 to 2012 - Executive Director and Member of the Managing Board of First Investment Bank AD.

During his years of work in First Investment Bank AD, Mr. Lukanov has been Chairman of the Credit Council and the Liquidity Council of the Bank. He has been in charge of the following departments: Risk Management, Impaired Assets and Provisioning, Loan Administration, Specialized Monitoring and Control, Retail Banking, Methodology, and Liquidity.

Mr. Lukanov has also been member of the Managing Board of First Investment Bank – Albania Sh.a.

At the beginning of February 2012, Mr. Lukanov was elected as Chairman of the Supervisory Board of First Investment Bank AD. For the period 2012-2019 he was Chairman of the Risk Committee to the Supervisory Board of the Bank and since May 2019 was elected as Chairman of the Remuneration Committee to the Supervisory Board of the Bank.

Mr. Lukanov holds a Master’s Degree in Economics from the University of National and World Economy, Sofia. Prior to joining First Investment Bank AD, Mr. Evgeni Lukanov worked as currency broker with First Financial Brokerage House OOD.

Besides his position on the Supervisory Board of the Bank, Mr. Lukanov is also Chairman of the Board of Directors of Fi Health Insurance AD.

Maya Georgieva - Deputy Chair of the Supervisory Board

Prior to joining First Investment Bank, Ms. Maya Georgieva worked with the Bulgarian National Bank for 19 years where she gained considerable experience in international banking relationships and payments, banking statistics and firm crediting. Her last appointment with BNB was as Head of the Balance of Payments Division.

Ms. Maya Georgieva joined First Investment Bank AD in 1995 as Director of the International Department. From 1998 to 2012 she served as Executive Director of First Investment Bank and Member of the Managing Board. During her years of work in the Bank she has been responsible of the following departments: International Payments, Letters of Credit and Guarantees, SME Lending, Human Capital Management, Administrative Department, Sales Department, Retail Banking, Marketing, Advertising and PR, Branch Network, Private Banking and the Vault.

Alongside her responsibilities at the Bank, Ms. Georgieva has also occupied a number of other senior executive positions. From 2003 to 2011 she chaired the Supervisory Board of CaSys International - a Macedonia-based card processing company servicing card payments in Bulgaria, Macedonia and Albania.

From 2009 to 2011 she was Chair of the Board of Directors of Diners Club Bulgaria AD - a franchise company of Diners Club International, owned by First Investment Bank. In this capacity, she inspired the launch of a number of products, including the first female-oriented credit card. From 2006 to 2011 she was also member of the Managing Board of First Investment Bank - Albania Sh.a., a subsidiary of First Investment Bank.

In the beginning of February 2012, Ms. Georgieva was elected as Deputy Chair of the Supervisory Board of First Investment Bank AD and Chair of the Presiding Committee to the Supervisory Board of First Investment Bank AD.

Ms. Georgieva holds a Master’s Degree in Macroeconomics from the University of National and World Economy in Sofia and has post-graduate specializations in International Payments with the International Monetary Fund and Banking from Specialized postgraduate course of BNB joint with the Bulgarian Union of Science and Technology.

She was granted several times with the "Banker of the Year" award of the Bulgarian financial weekly "Banker" - in 2001 and 2011, as well as in 2018 for overall contribution to the development of the banking system.

Radka Mineva - Member of the Supervisory Board

Prior to joining First Investment Bank AD, Ms. Mineva worked as a capital markets dealer at the Bulgarian National Bank where she gained considerable experience in banking. During the time spent with the Central Bank, she specialized at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and the London Stock Exchange as a capital markets dealer.

Ms. Mineva started her career with the foreign trade enterprise Main Engineering Office, where she worked for 9 years; she also spent three years as an expert at RVM Trading Company.

Since 2000, Ms. Mineva has been a Member of the Supervisory Board of First Investment Bank AD. Since May 2019, she was elected as Member of the Presiding Committee to the Supervisory Board of First Investment Bank.

She is a graduate of the University of National and World Economy in Sofia, with a degree in Trade and Tourism.

Besides her position on the Supervisory Board of the Bank, Ms. Mineva is Manager of Balkan Holidays Services OOD - a company with activities in the sphere of tourism, transportation, hotel business, tour operation, and tour agency services. Ms. Mineva is also Manager of Balkan Holidays Partners OOD - a company engaged in international and domestic tourism services, foreign economic transactions, and financial management.

Jordan Skortchev - Member of the Supervisory Board

Before joining First Investment Bank AD, Mr. Jordan Skortchev worked for two years with the Central and Latin America Department of the foreign trade organization Intercommerce, followed by five years with First Private Bank, Sofia as an FX Dealer and Head of the Dealing Division.

Mr. Skortchev joined First Investment Bank in 1996 as Chief Dealer, FX Markets. From 2001 to 2012 Mr. Skortchev was Member of the Managing Board and Executive Director of the Bank. During his years of work in the Bank, Mr. Skortchev has been responsible for the following departments: Card Payments, Operations, Gold and Numismatics, Internet Banking, Dealing, Security and Office Network-Sofia.

Alongside his responsibilities at the Bank, Mr. Skortchev has also occupied other senior executive positions. Mr. Skortchev has been Chairman of the Supervisory Board of UNIBank, Republic of Macedonia, member of the Supervisory Board of CaSys International, Republic of Macedonia, member of the Board of Directors of Diners Club Bulgaria AD, member of the Board of Directors of Bankservice AD, member of the Board of Directors of Medical center FiHealth AD, and Manager of FiHealth OOD.

In the beginning of February 2012, Mr. Skortchev was elected as a Member of the Supervisory Board of the Bank. For the period 2012-2019, he was Chairman of the Remuneration Committee to the Supervisory Board of First Investment Bank AD. Since May 2019, Mr. Skortchev was elected as Chairman of the Nomination Committee to the Supervisory Board of First Investment Bank AD.

Mr. Skortchev holds a Master’s Degree in International Economic Relations from the Higher Institute of Economics (now the University of National and World Economy) in Sofia. He has specialized in banking in Luxembourg, in swap deals at Euromoney, and in futures and options at the Chicago Stock Exchange.

Jyrki Koskelo – Member of the Supervisory Board

Mr. Jyrki Koskelo was elected as member of the Supervisory Board of First Investment Bank AD in June 2015. In his capacity as an independent member Mr. Koskelo supports the Supervisory Board in setting up the business objectives and the strategy of the Bank, the corporate culture and values, as well as in overseeing good corporate governance practices and effective risk management. As at 31 December 2019, he is Chairman of the Risk Committee to the Supervisory Board of First Investment Bank AD. Mr. Koskelo has long-term experience in banking and global financial markets, as well as wide professional practice in different geographical regions.

Mr. Koskelo worked in the International Finance Corporation (IFC - a member of the World Bank Group) for 24 years, from 1987 to late 2011. The first 13 years he worked as an Investment Officer covering the Central and Eastern Europe and Africa regions. In 2000, he was appointed as Director Work-out Loans and in 2004 he became Director Global Financial Markets. In 2007, he was appointed as Vice President (reporting to the CEO) and a member of the IFC’s Management Committee. Mr. Koskelo led the formulation and implementation of the IFC’s investment strategy, policies, and practices across industries and regions, including in Central and Eastern Europe, Latin America and Africa. His major legacies include IFC’s entry to Global Trade Finance Programs, decentralization of the organization with significant staffing across emerging markets, IFC’s leading role in private sector side of Vienna Initiative to support Central Europe banks after Lehman Crisis and establishment of IFC’s Asset Management subsidiary’s first $3 billion fund for capitalization of weak banks in poor countries.

Prior to joining the IFC, he spent close to 10 years in senior management positions in the private sector in the Middle East and in USA.

Mr. Koskelo currently holds a number of senior and advisory positions in European and African organizations and financial institutions including:

  • AATIF (a KfW & EU sponsored Africa Agriculture and Trade Investment Fund), Luxemburg – Member of the Board of Directors, Chairman of the Investment Committee;
  • EXPO Bank, Czech Republic – Member of the Supervisory Board;
  • Invest Solar Africa, Botswana – Chairman of the Board of Directors.

During the period 2012 – up to 2019 Mr. Koskelo acted in multiple Supervisory Board and advisory positions including in the Africa Development Corporation, Germany; African Banking Corporation, Botswana; RSwitch, Rwanda; EXPO Bank, Latvia, AtlasMara Co-Nvest LLC, UK, and in Al Jaber Group, UAE.

Mr. Koskelo holds a Master of Science (M.Sc.) degree in Civil Engineering from the Technical University of Helsinki, Finland and a Master of Business Administration (MBA) in International Finance from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Sloan School of Management in Boston, USA.
 



Committees

The operation of the Supervisory Board of First Investment Bank is assisted by committees – Presiding Committee, Risk Committee, Remuneration Committee, Nomination Committee, which operate according to written structure, scope of operations and functions. As a company of public interest, an Audit Committee is established which functions as an auxiliary body and reports to the General Meeting of Shareholders for its activity.

The Presiding Committee is responsible for the supervision of the activities of the Managing Board on important strategic decisions, including the issuance of new shares, bonds, hybrid instruments, determining programs and budgets relating to the Bank’s operations.

The Risk Committee assists the supervision of the activities of the Managing Board on risk management and for a broad strategic and tactical supervision on the function of risk management in the Bank, including the formation of risk exposures. The committee advises the Supervisory Board in relation to the whole present and future strategy on the adherence of the risk policy and risk limits, the Bank’s risk tolerance and control over its execution by the senior management.

The Remuneration Committee assists the Supervisory Board in the implementation of the remuneration policy of the Bank and the subsequent changes, as well as in any other matters relating to remunerations in accordance with the legal requirements and the good practices in this area.

The Nomination Committee assists the Supervisory Board in assessing the suitability of candidates or active members of the Managing Board and other senior management staff of the Bank, as well as the compliance with the applicable regulatory provisions regarding the selection of candidates for senior management.

The Audit Committee is responsible for monitoring of financial reporting and the independent financial audit as well as the effectiveness of the internal audit function and risk management within the Bank.

The activities of the Managing Board of First Investment Bank is supported by internal bank bodies such as Credit Council, Credit Committee, Liquidity Council, Operational Risk Committee, that function in compliance with internal written regulations and procedures.