Maduro Taps Evrofinance Board Member to Fill Bank Ministry Post

(Bloomberg) -- Just as a Russian committee lands in Caracas to advise Maduro on economic policy, Venezuela plucked an obscure Moscow bank board-member and named him a top official in the nation’s banking system.

President Nicolas Maduro named 32-year-old Christiam Hernandez as the acting deputy minister of the national banking system, according to an Oct. 23 official gazette distributed this week. Hernandez is a supervisory board member of Evrofinance Mosnarbank, jointly owned by Russia and Venezuela and part of Maduro’s efforts to work around U.S. sanctions.

Hernandez graduated from the small Alexander Humboldt University in Caracas with a degree in international trade and two years ago earned a master’s degree in the same topic, according to Evrofinance’s website. He also worked at Venezuela’s Economic and Social Development Bank, known as Bandes, and served a number of posts in the finance ministry. Venezuela’s Finance Ministry did not immediately respond to calls seeking comment.

Russia sent a senior delegation this week to Venezuela to consult high-ranking government officials on a plan to advice Maduro’s government on economic policy. The Russian delegation, including Deputy Finance Minister Sergey Storchak, will meet with local officials to help devise strategies to manage the economy in the current crisis.

To contact the reporters on this story: Fabiola Zerpa in Caracas Office at fzerpa@bloomberg.net;Patricia Laya in Caracas at playa2@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Daniel Cancel at dcancel@bloomberg.net

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