Pysaruk Oleksandr Volodymyrovych

First Deputy Chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine under Gontareva, Chairman of Raiffeisen Bank Aval

Oleksandr Pysaruk is an experienced banker with an international background: he began his career at Bank Ukraine in the 1990s, then worked for 16 years at the Dutch ING. In 2014–2015, he served as the First Deputy Chairman of the National Bank of Ukraine under Valeria Gontareva. In August 2019, the Austrian shareholders of Raiffeisen Bank Aval appointed him as chairman of the board — following a long search to replace Volodymyr Lavrenchuk, who had led the bank for 14 years.

Detained directly in the office

On November 11, 2019, NABU detectives came to the office of Raiffeisen Bank Aval and detained Pysaruk along with six other individuals — former and current officials of the National Bank of Ukraine and VAB Bank. All were charged with embezzling UAH 1.2 billion of stabilization credit issued by the National Bank in 2014 to Oleg Bakhmatyuk's VAB Bank. Pysaruk was accused of preparing the refinancing decision — he was acting as head of the National Bank at the time when Gontareva was on vacation. Almost two years of investigation passed without any of the key accusations being proven.