Tsvetan Vasilev

Education

Tsvetan Vasilev holds a master's degree in International Economic Relations from the University of National and World Economy. After graduation, he worked as a research fellow in economics at the Center of Foreign Trade and International Markets for seven years.

Early career

Tsvetan Vasilev started his career in finance in 1992 when he founded his brokerage company Bromak EOOD and his investment intermediary Fina-S AD. Between 1995 and 1999 he headed the Foreign Exchange Operations and Liquidity Department of Central Cooperative Bank, and in 1997 he also became member of the bank's Board of Directors. In 1999 he left Central Cooperative Bank to head the Markets and Liquidity Department at CB Bulgaria Invest (now Allianz Bulgaria Commercial Bank).

Corporate Commercial Bank ("Corpbank")

Between 2000 and 2003, Vasilev served as Chairman of the Executive Board and Executive Director of Corporate Commercial Bank AD. In 2003 he became its majority shareholder and Chairman of its Supervisory Board.

The Vivacom deal

In 2012 affiliates of Tsvetan Vasilev and VTB Capital acquired the controlling interest of the leading Bulgarian telecom company Vivacom from its creditors. Experts claim that the deal was amidst the most complicated ones on the Bulgarian financial market. The restructuring was approved by the European Commission and the international creditors of Vivacom. Prior to the acquisition by Vasilev and VTB Capital, Vivacom had incurred significant debt after a buyout by AIG in 2007, which subsequently sold its shares to PineBridge Investments.

Vassilev saw the opportunity and raised the capital to make the purchase.

Vivacom is the leading market provider in Bulgaria for a variety of telecommunications services, including landline, mobile, Internet, radio, and TV. It has approximately 3,500 employees.

The company's 2013 financial report showed considerable improvement: EBITDA increased from BGN 267 million to BGN 339 million.

Entrepreneurial and innovative investments

By 2014, Corpbank was Bulgaria’s fourth largest bank. The bank held an extensive portfolio of companies and was the only bank in Bulgaria investing in start-ups and entrepreneurs. Because the bank was making these types of investments that no other banks were doing, its profits and regional power grew. Until its destruction by Bulgarian regulators and the looting of its assets, Corpbank was arguably the most innovative and entrepreneurial bank in the Balkans.

Starting from scratch in 2001, it was a pioneer in export financing to Bulgarian energy producers and ammunition manufacturers previously without banking options.

Unlike its rivals, Corpbank also made direct investments in its clients and emerging enterprises in Bulgaria, most notably the country's leading telecom Vivacom, which it bought from creditors in 2012.

"Sudden" run on the bank

Because of its growth, wealth, and power, in April 2014 one of the most influential political parties in Bulgaria (DPS) visited Vassilev. The request was simple: transfer assets for free to the "mobster circle of DPS." Vassilev refused.

Suddenly, by June and July 2014, Corpbank customers withdrew cash in a panic. Prior to the bank run, several Bulgarian media outlets ran stories accusing Vassilev of trying to organize the murder of a media titan who had close connections to the government, Delyan Peevski. Prosecutors raided companies affiliated with Corpbank. They confiscated financial documents from those companies. TV stations ran live feeds of the prosecution's raids. Over the course of 4 days, over 20 percent of Corpbank's assets were withdrawn in cash by depositors.

After the bank run, Corpbank was closed for six months. Customers could not get money out. The Bulgarian government's currency board denied the Bulgarian National Bank (BNB) from creating money to pay Corpbank's customers. According to Forbes, "Paying off depositors was therefore impossible. But reopening the bank was not an option either, since that would simply re-start the run. Therefore, the BNB kept the bank "on ice".

Bank collapse and shutdown

In late 2014, the bank collapsed which caused the largest financial crisis in Bulgaria since the 1990s. Bulgaria’s central bank, Bulgarian National Bank, then took control over the bank. Corpbank was officially shut down and its assets taken over by the Bulgarian National Bank in July 2014. According to media reports at that time, the shutdown was due to a dispute between Vassilev and "Bulgarian media oligarch Delyan Peevski."

Civil and criminal charges

In March 2016, the Bulgarian government (through the Commission for Illegal Assets Forfeiture (CIAF)) filed a lawsuit against Vassilev as the main shareholder of Corpbank. The lawsuit accuses Vassilev of using bank money to personally acquire assets and property. The government’s lawsuit seeks 2.2 billion leva, which is equivalent to $1.3 billion US dollars. Vassilev blames the failure of the bank on a plot hatched by his competitors and the government, ultimately to gain control over the wealthy telecommunications company Vivacom. In December 2016, Bulgarian and Swiss courts froze over 600 million levs of Vassilev’s money.

The government is also going after Vassilev and his wife, charging both with money laundering. His wife is a university professor.

After spending some time in Austria, Vasilev is currently residing in Belgrade, Serbia (he voluntarily surrendered to Serbian police officers on 16 September 2014). In March 2015, the Appellate Court of Belgrade ruled against an extradition request by the Bulgarian authorities.

"Delyan Peevski is simply one of the main tools that the Bulgarian political mafia uses to blackmail Bulgarian business—the visible part of a rather large iceberg of corruption," Vassilev said in a Forbes interview. "The political mafia is persistently trying to downgrade what happened to Corpbank to a personal conflict between Mr. Peevski and me, which is utterly untrue. I had a conflict with the political mafia ruling the country, which has been blackmailing and threatening me for many years."

Citizenship

Tsvetan Vasilev is Doctor Honoris Causa of the “St. Ivan Rilski” University of Mining and Geology. He is also recipient of the Honorary Badge of the University of National and World Economy and a member of the university’s Board of Trustees. He has authored a number of publications analyzing the financial challenges before Bulgaria and the European Union.

Vasilev is a frequent guest of various international economic forums, such as the Wroclaw Global Forum and the Black Sea Energy and Economic Summit. Tsvetan Vasilev is a member of the International Advisory Board of the Atlantic Council.

Vasilev has sponsored many initiatives in various fields, including scientific research, development of sports, support of orphanages, renovation of churches and monasteries, etc.

He is the main benefactor of PFC Botev Plovdiv, the oldest football club in Bulgaria. Vasilev’s efforts are concentrated on the development of the football club and its junior football academy.

Awards

Tsvetan Vasilev has received a number of prestigious awards. He has been the recipient of The Banker newspaper "Banker of the Year" award for his personal contributions to the Bulgarian economy and banking several times:

In 2011 he received the Mr. Economy award (the grand award of the Economics magazine in Bulgaria) for overall contribution to the development of the Bulgarian economy. In 2012 Vasilev received an award for his overall contribution to the development of motorcycle sports in Bulgaria by the Bulgarian Motorcycle Federation.

Personal life

Tsvetan Vasilev is married to Professor Antoaneta Vassileva, Dean of the International Economics and Politics Faculty of the University of National and World Economy.