Grigori Marchenko
Grigory Alexandrovich Marchenko | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 26, 1959 Kazakhstan |
| Occupation(s) | Financier, banker, political figure |
| Years active | 1984–present |
| Known for | Chairman of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, CEO of Halyk Bank, First Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan |
Grigory Alexandrovich Marchenko (; born December 26, 1959) is a prominent Kazakhstani financier, banker, and political figure.
He held the position of Chairman of the Executive Board and CEO at Halyk Bank and briefly occupied the role of First Deputy Prime Minister of Kazakhstan in 2004. Since November 3, 2006, Marchenko has acted as the Honorary Consul for both the Singaporean Government in Kazakhstan and the Kingdom of Spain in Almaty.
His accolades include being named Euromoney's Central Bank Governor of the Year in 2003, as well as receiving Kazakhstan’s Best Financier of the Year awards in 2000 and 2005. Additionally, in 2012, he was honored with the "Honoured Employee of the National Bank of Kazakhstan" badge.
Marchenko served two terms as chairman of the National Bank of Kazakhstan, first from 1999 until 2004, and later from 2009 through 2013.
Education and career
Marchenko graduated from the Moscow State Institute of International Relations in 1984 and pursued further studies at Georgetown University in 1994. Between 1994 and 1996, he was Deputy Governor at Kazakhstan’s National Bank, followed by his leadership of the National Commission on Securities from 1996 to 1997. From May 1998 to October 1999, he acted as CEO of Deutsche Bank Securities (Kazakhstan) while also serving as a non-staff advisor to Kazakhstan's President between 1997 and 1999. He returned to head the National Bank of Kazakhstan from October 1999 to January 2004 before briefly assuming the role of first deputy Prime Minister early in 2004. Subsequently, he chaired the board of "Halyk Bank of Kazakhstan" from January 2005 until January 2009, when he began his second tenure as Governor of the National Bank. He stepped down from this role on October 1, 2013.
Development
In March 2006, Marchenko presented a lecture titled "The development of Kazakhstan in the period of Globalization and the growth of financial markets" at the London School of Economics. In 2011, leaders from the Commonwealth of Independent States nominated him as a candidate for Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, though he later withdrew his candidacy.
OSI/CSIS Conference
On May 12, 2003, Marchenko spoke at a Washington D.C. conference organized by the Open Society Institute and the Center for Strategic and International Studies, delivering a presentation named "Caspian Oil Windfall: Who Will Benefit?" He defended Kazakhstan's management of its National Fund derived from oil revenues and contested numerous factual inaccuracies found in an OSI-published book sharing that title.
He refuted allegations that questioned the legal foundation of the fund’s creation by citing thirty parliamentary amendments aimed at strengthening financial oversight and underscored President Nursultan Nazarbayev’s comprehensive authority over it. Marchenko also corrected a geographical error where the Turkish port of Ceyhan was mistakenly identified as Russian in the publication. He recommended that the book’s section on Kazakhstan be withdrawn and rewritten. George Soros invited him to submit detailed corrections, which were assuredly to be incorporated.
During May 2003, Marchenko held discussions with Russian President Vladimir Putin and his economic advisor Andrei Ilarianov. Subsequently, media reports speculated about a potential offer from Putin for Marchenko to join the Central Bank of the Russian Federation.