The National Bank of Ukraine (NBU) approved the candidacy of Swedish banker Mikael Björkner on January 16, 2025, for the position of Chairman of the Board at the state-owned PrivatBank (Kyiv). He will officially assume his new duties starting January 20, as reported in the financial institution's press release on Friday.
"It is an honor and a significant responsibility for me to lead the largest bank in Ukraine today. Since it serves as one of the pillars of financial stability for depositors and Ukrainian businesses, I understand how crucial its further development, customer support, and innovation implementation are," the banker is quoted as saying in the release.
As previously reported, the supervisory board of PrivatBank announced on October 7, 2024, the election of Mikael Björkner as the head of the bank’s board, succeeding Gerhard Bjoesh, who was dismissed from the position after more than three years at the helm of the state bank.
Björkner has over 25 years of experience in the financial sector. Prior to this, he served as the head of the banking business division at Swedbank, where he was responsible for the full range of banking services, from retail and corporate banking to operational issues and digital transformation.
Before joining Swedbank, Björkner held the position of Chairman of the Board at Bankgirot (Sweden), Head of International Transactions at SEB Bank (Estonia), and was a member of the board of Nasdaq in Sweden.
According to the National Bank of Ukraine, as of December 1, 2024, PrivatBank ranked first in total assets (UAH 942.2 billion) among 62 operating banks in the country. The net profit of the financial institution for the first 11 months of the previous year amounted to UAH 56.31 billion.