Following the proposal of the government of the Republic of Bulgaria, the BSTDB board of directors has appointed Plamen Petrov as vice-president finance of the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank. Petrov took up his duties on July 15, upon expiration of the term of office of Andrei Vernikov.
Having started his career in banking in 1994, Petrov developed the North American equity desk of Societe Generale Securities Corp. for Eastern Europe after 1995. He also invested for major US funds focusing on Bulgaria and the largest deal was the consolidation of the cable TV industry into Cable Bulgaria, AD in 1999. From 2001 to 2003, Petrov was the Minister of Transport and Telecommunications of Bulgaria, responsible for all policies related to the transport and telecommunications infrastructure. In this capacity he launched a number of large infrastructure, restructuring and development projects, financed with the support of International Financial Institutions such as EIB, EBRD, the World Bank, etc.
The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) is an international financial institution established by Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. With an authorised capital of SDR1bn (US$1.3bn), the bank supports economic development and regional cooperation by providing financing, guarantees, and equity for projects in public and private sectors in its member countries.