EBRD appoints new Managing Director for Ukraine and Moldova

Development (EBRD) has appointed Arvid Tuerkner as its new Managing Director for Ukraine and Moldova. Ukraine is a priority investment destination for the EBRD, with over €4.1 billion deployed there since the start of the Russian invasion in 2022. Future investments in wartime and reconstruction will be supported by a €4 billion paid-in capital increase agreed by EBRD shareholders at the end of last year.

Mr Tuerkner replaces Matteo Patrone, who after five years in the role moves to become the EBRD’s Vice President, Banking.

“This appointment reflects the importance the EBRD attaches to its relationship with Ukraine, which stretches back over three decades and has only intensified since the start of the full-scale war,” said the Bank’s First Vice President Jürgen Rigterink. “Arvid Tuerkner’s distinguished handling of his previous role in Türkiye gives us great confidence that this vital portfolio is in excellent hands.”

Mr Tuerkner will supervise the development of the EBRD programme for Ukraine, which is focussed on five wartime investment themes: support for energy security, vital infrastructure, food security, trade and the private sector, along with policy dialogue helping Ukraine and Moldova to progress towards EU membership.

A German national, Arvid joined the EBRD in January 2009 from the German development bank DEG as a Senior Banker in the Financial Institutions team in Moscow. He was promoted to the role of Director, Regional Development, and Deputy Head of the Moscow Office in October 2013 and became Head of Russia in April 2015.

After moving to London in early 2017 as Director of Corporate Debt, he was promoted to his current role of Managing Director, Türkiye in November 2017. In that role, Arvid successfully led the Bank’s crisis response to the devaluation of the lira in 2018.

Under his leadership, and despite the recurring macroeconomic volatility, the Bank’s business in Türkiye continued to grow significantly. The portfolio is now worth €7.5 billion with 246 active portfolio projects and operating assets worth €5.8 billion. In 2023 alone, the Bank signed 48 projects worth €2.48 billion.

On the policy side, a broad portfolio of activities has been implemented, mainly in the green and inclusive areas, from low carbon pathways to care economy initiatives.