Andrei Vernikov is a Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Economics of the Russian Academy of Sciences (Moscow).From 2006 to 2016 he taught as a Professor of Banking at the Higher School of Economics in Moscow. Prior to that, he held executive positions in banking and finance, including Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (Thessaloniki, Greece), ABN AMRO Bank (Moscow), International Monetary Fund (Washington DC), and Central Bank of Russia(Moscow). He also has served as a non-executive Director in 7 banks and companies. His research interests include institutional economics, development economics, banking, and corporate governance. Andrei is a citizen of the Russian Federation, born in Sevastopol in 1960. He received his diploma in International Economics from the Moscow Institute of International Relations (now MGIMO-University) in 1981 and his doctoral degree from the Russian Academy of Sciencesin 2006. Andrei speaks Russian, English, Spanish, Portuguese, French and Czech.