people

our team consists of finance professionals with an unrivalled experience in the financial services sector and in emerging markets

  Ahmet Ali Bugay , head of Turkey

Prior to joining silkroutefinancial, Ahmet Ali was the Deputy Head of Rothschild Istanbul where he led origination and execution of cross border M&A transactions. Ahmet Ali held senior positions at HSBC, Ak Yatirim and Demir Yatirim gaining broad experience in M&A advisory and capital markets transactions. Ahmet Ali has more than twelve years of experience in investment banking and advisory. Ahmet Ali holds a BSc. degree in Engineering from Istanbul Technical University, and an MBA from Koc University, Istanbul.

  Branko Greganovič , senior representative, former Yugoslavia

Branko has over 20 years of experience in banking, corporate finance and M&A. He held the position of Undersecretary of State, Head of Public Debt Management Office, in the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Slovenia between 1996 and 1998. After that, Branko held managerial positions at Societe Generale and Publikum Brokarage and Corporate Finance in Ljubljana, Slovenia working on projects in all countries of former Yugoslavia.

  Csaba Nyerges , chief operating officer

Prior to joining silkroutefinancial, Csaba was a Director of Corporate Finance at KPMG (Hungary). Before that he spent nearly ten years in the investment banking division of Deutsche Bank in London, specialising in the CEE region and the former Soviet Union. Csaba has more than 18 years experience in investment banking in Central and Eastern Europe.

  Elena Mitropolsky , senior insurance analyst

Elena has been involved in the direct analysis of financial companies since 2002. During that time, she has worked at a number of global investment banks and consultancies, covering financial institutions in Canada and the emerging markets.

  Fedele Di Maggio , head of investment banking, head of Ukraine

Before joining Silkroute, Fedele held several top management positions in the local subsidiaries of Banking and Financial Services groups such as UniCredit, KBC and Home Credit. Prior to that, he was a Principal at McKinsey and Company, where he led the Financial Institutions Practice in CEE, helping clients define their entry strategies and acquire and restructure banks in the Region. Fedele holds a CEMS Master in International Business and a Laurea cum Laude in Business Administration from Universita' Bocconi.

  John Richards , commercial & legal director

John was an associate in the corporate department of Macfarlanes in London, specialising in M & A, before establishing and running Korscient Consulting Limited - an IT consultancy. He has considerable experience of corporate law and operations.

  Nona Kvaratskheliya , associate, investment banking

Nona joined silkroutefinancial in 2008, following completion of her degree. Nona holds an MSc in Finance from Cass Business School in London.

  Olatunde Akerele , head of Sub-Saharan Africa

Olatunde completed an LLB (Hons) degree at the London School of Economics in 1991 before returning to Zimbabwe, where he worked for a leading Zimbabwean conglomerate. Following the completion of an MBA at Columbia Business School in 1997, Olatunde joined Citibank's Global Emerging Markets Team as a Management Associate. Olatunde worked in Hungary, Singapore, Colombia and the Ivory Coast whilst at Citibank in various functions including Corporate and Investment Banking, Risk Management and Operations. Olatunde went on to join Standard Bank in Johannesburg in September 2004, as a Regional Head in Stanbic Africa's Corporate and Investment Bank. Olatunde left Standard Bank in 2008 to co-found Lonsa Capital before being recruited by a global consulting firm to assist in the transformation of Oceanic Bank in Nigeria.

  Pawel Nierada , head of Poland

Prior to joining silkroutefinancial, Pawel held senior positions at Erste Corporate Finance and Deloitte in Poland. Before that he worked for Credit Suisse (Poland and UK) and NM Rothschild (Poland). Pawel has worked in investment banking since the mid 1990s and has gained broad capital markets and M&A advisory experience on cross border transactions throughout Europe.

  Peter Lovas , chief executive officer

Prior to establishing silkroutefinancial group in 2007, Peter was head of CEE/CIS Investment Banking at HSBC, where he was involved in numerous M&A and financing transactions for financial institutions in the CEE/CIS region. Previously, he was head of CEE/CIS equity capital markets at Dresdner Kleinwort Benson and held CEE/CIS focused investment banking and principal investments positions at Raiffeisen, ING Barings and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development. Peter qualified as an Associate Chartered Accountant in the financial institutions group of Price Waterhouse in London.

  Richard Hainsworth , adviser, Russia (Banks)

Richard has been resident in Moscow since 1982 and has been studying banks since the early 90s. In 1996 he was appointed Moscow Representative of Thompson BankWatch and in 2001 he founded RusRating, a national bank credit rating agency, with the support of Citibank, where he was a vice president in the Credit Risk Department. RusRating now rates over 50 Russian banks, updating the ratings monthly, and has achieved significant recognition among both Russian and international financial institutions. Richard is also the current President of the CFA Association in Russia.

  Roger Yeoman , chairman of institutional securities

Roger has over 30 years of experience in the Securities industry. He started his career at Wood Gundy where he was selling US and Canadian equities to European institutional investors. From 1989 until 2008, Roger held various senior roles in Morgan Stanley’s securities division in London. For a period of 5 years, Roger was Head of pan-European Equity sales. His recent experience has been more focused on emerging markets. From 2008 to 2010, he was head of Institutional Brokerage at NBC Capital, one of the leading brokers in Saudi Arabia. He has also been working to develop the European institutional sales capability of Avendus, the Indian broker. Roger holds an MA in Modern Languages from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.

  Rupert Robson , non-executive chairman

Rupert has been Chairman of silkroutefinancial group Ltd since 2007. He is also Chairman of the Audit, Remuneration and Nominations Committees. He is Chairman of Charles Taylor Consulting plc and a Non-executive Director of Tullett Prebon plc and OJSC Nomos Bank. He has held a number of senior roles in City institutions, most recently Non-executive Director of London Metal Exchange Holdings Ltd. Between 2003 and 2006, he was Global Head, Financial Institutions Group, Corporate Investment Banking and Markets at HSBC and, prior to that, Head of European Insurance, Investment Banking at Citigroup Global Markets. He has had extensive experience of mergers and acquisitions work, capital- and fund-raising and private equity, most of it in the financial institutions sector. He is also a member of the Wilton Park Advisory Board.

  Tim Horlick , non-executive director

Until recently, Tim was joint managing partner of Frontiers Capital, a private equity firm focused on the communications and technology sectors. Prior to that he was COO of Salomon Brothers in EMEA and a senior director in equity capital markets at Kleinwort Benson.

  Tom Manson , head of insurance

Formerly managing director, Langton Syndicate Management, Lloyds London. Tom has since provided consultancy services to many insurance and reinsurance companies in Russia, Ukraine and in other countries in the CIS. His main focus has been capital raising and assisting clients in developing international accounting and reporting methods and standards. Tom holds an MA degree from Oxford University in Philospophy, Politics and Economics.

  Tony Romani , head of South Eastern Europe

Tony has been covering financial institutions in various capacities since 2004. His investment banking experience includes M&A transactions, capital raises, corporate restructurings and leveraged buyouts. Prior to joining silkroutefinancial, Tony worked in the Asset Management Group of Freeman & Co, a specialist M&A firm based in New York City. Previously, Tony was a member of the Advisory team in the New York office of PricewaterhouseCoopers. Tony holds an MBA from Columbia Business School and a BBA degree in accounting from Baruch College – City University of New York.

  William Vincent , head of research

William has been involved in the analysis of financial companies since 1980. During that time, he has worked at a number of the leading global investment banks and covered financial institutions in the UK, Western Europe and Emerging Markets. He is the only analyst in any sector to have been rated in the top three in investor surveys for all three regions. William was the Head of EMEA Equity Research at ING Barings between 1999 and 2003. In addition to his work in the secondary markets, he has been involved in a number of landmark primary equity transactions, including the IPOs of OTP in Hungary and Bank Handlowy in Poland.

  Željko Perić , senior country representative, Croatia and the former Yugoslavia

Until 2004, Zeljko held senior positions in leading groups in the former Yugoslavia including CEO of Lura, a consumer goods company and CFO of Pliva, Croatia’s largest company. Over the past three years, he established Caper, an advisory firm based in Zagreb and has advised several financial institutions including Zagreb Insurance, Hrvatska Postanska Banka, Banca Popolare and Sonic Banka.