Vneshekonombank
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Headquarters in Moscow
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Native name
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Внешэкономбанк |
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Formerly called
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Vneshtorgbank of the USSR |
| State Corporation | |
| Industry | Financial services |
| Founded | 18 August 1922 |
| Founder | Olof Aschberg |
| Headquarters | Moscow, Russia |
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Key people
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Sergei Gorkov (chairman) |
| Brands | VEB |
| Services | Banking |
| Total assets | $61.1 billion (2016) |
| Owner | Russian Government |
| Website | www |
Vnesheconombank, or VEB (Russian: Внешэкономбанк (ВЭБ)), is a Russian government-owned development bank, meant to provide funding for projects aimed at developing the Russian economy. It is not involved in retail banking activities. Translated to the English language, its name means "Bank of Foreign Economic Activity," though it is commonly called the "Russian Development Bank," and it refers to itself as "the state corporation Bank for Development and Foreign Economic Affairs.”
From 2005 to 2006, both the assets and liabilities of the bank doubled from around $6 billion to $12 billion, and the income rose from $239 million to $301 million. VEB has suffered massive losses in 2014-2015, leading to a 330 billion rubles government bailout in 2015, followed by 150 billion rubles in 2016 and a similar amount planned for 2017. VEB has been subject to U.S. economic sanctions since July 2014 over Russia's annexation of the Crimea.
In 1922, Jewish-Swedish financier Olof Aschberg established the Soviet Union's first international bank as Roskombank (Роскомбанк; "Russian Commercial Bank"), which in 1924 was renamed "Vneshtorgbank of the USSR" (Внешторгбанк; "Foreign Trade Bank of the USSR"), a joint stock bank. It was finally renamed "Vnesheconombank of the USSR" ("Bank of Foreign Economic Affairs of the USSR") in 1988.
In 2002, Vnesheconombank was restructured and it stepped up its efforts in servicing government programs, reduced the scope of its commercial business and gave a higher priority to supporting the government's structural reforms.
In April of 2002, VEB was appointed Vnesheconombank agent for investing temporarily free Pension Fund's assets in securities denominated in foreign currency, and in January of 2003, a special structural subdivision to handle pension funds was formed; VEB was appointed the "State Trust Management Company" responsible for investing Russia's pension funds.
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Wikipedia