January 14 (SeeNews) - The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) said on Monday it has appointed Mark Davis as its new regional director for Romania and Bulgaria, starting April 1.
In his new position, Davis will lead EBRD operations in the two countries and help boost their economies through investment, advice and support for reforms, the bank said in a statement.
Davis is taking over the position from Matteo Patrone, who has now become managing director for Eastern Europe and the Caucasus.
"I am honoured to take on this new task. Romania and Bulgaria play increasingly prominent roles in south-eastern Europe and for EBRD business. We will keep the investment momentum in the two countries," Mark Davis said.
Mark Davis is currently adviser to EBRD Vice President, Banking, Alain Pilloux, and is based in London. He joined EBRD in 2013 as head of Armenia. During his tenure in Yerevan, he expanded EBRD’s investment in the country, made a major contribution to the creation of the Armenian Private Equity Fund, and helped deepen local capital markets, EBRD said.
Prior to joining the EBRD, Davis was an executive director at Goldman Sachs in Moscow and executive director at Morgan Stanley in London. He began his career at the World Bank in Washington D.C. where he was a senior country economist responsible for Moldova, Ukraine and Kazakhstan between 1996 and 2006. Mark Davis holds a PhD in economics from Tulane University.
To date, the EBRD invested over 8.3 billion euro ($9.5 billion) in Romania and nearly 3.9 billion euro in Bulgaria.
In 2018 alone, the Bank invested over 400 million euro in Romania and more than 185 million euro in Bulgaria.
($=0.8724 euro)