Malgorzata Kolakowska has been appointed director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development’s (EBRD) Warsaw office.

Kolakowska joined the bank in May 2001 and has until recently been a senior banker based in Warsaw. Before joining the EBRD Kolakowska held senior positions in McDonald’s Polska and ING Bank Polska.

The EBRD has been operating in Poland since the it was set up in 1991 and has invested some €3bn in 136 projects to date. The EBRD’s latest strategy for Poland, adopted last April, states that the bank will focus its activities on enterprise restructuring, privatisation, increasing financial intermediation to micro and small companies and infrastructure development.

Kolakowska replaces Irene Grzybowski, who after six years as director of the Warsaw office has left the EBRD to work with a private bank.