The head of the State Duma's influential banking committee, Alexander Shokhin, announced that he is resigning from his post to join leading investment bank Renaissance Capital. As of Monday, Shokhin will take over as chairman of Renaissance Capital's supervisory board and become a partner.
"I've received such offers from large oligarchic structures before," Shokhin said at a news conference Wednesday. "But only now do I have a moral right to quit politics."
Shokhin said that the government reform movement has reached "critical mass," despite big gaps in pension reform legislation and delays in developing bank deposit guarantee legislation.
A member of the pro-Kremlin People's Deputy faction, Shokhin has spent the past 15 years in politics, serving as a Duma deputy with stints as labor minister, economics minister and deputy prime minister in the early 1990s. He was also the shortest-lived deputy prime minister under former President Boris Yeltsin, resigning after one week in 1998 in protest against Mikhail Zadornov's appointment as finance minister.
Shokhin said his leaving could be the impetus for a restructuring of Duma committees -- for example, combining the banking committee with the equally influential budget committee.
But Yury Korgunyuk of Indem said the departure is unlikely to have an impact on the Duma's structure. "If the centrists had the Kremlin's blessing, they would have removed the Communists from the speaker's and other key posts long ago," he said. "If these posts were taken from Communists, they'd be independent and, moreover, insulted. The Kremlin doesn't need that."
Replacing Shokhin may nevertheless present problems, Korgunyuk said. Under the Duma agreement parceling out committee posts to various factions, someone from the People's Deputy party must head the banking committee. But there are no banking specialists in the party, and no party members were among Shokhin's committee deputies, Korgunyuk said.
Renaissance CEO Stephen Jennings said that the recruitment of Shokhin is part of Renaissance's plan to develop internationally. Renaissance, which posted revenues in excess of $100 million in 2001, became the first Russia-based member of the London Stock Exchange in February, and on Tuesday it announced that it had snagged executives and managers from six leading Western financial firms.
Analysts said that Shokhin's decision to leave the Duma was a rational one.
"If the chairman of a major Duma committee ... gives up his position to work at an investment bank, it indicates the Duma is a less effective place for wielding influence. Given that the Duma is rubber-stamping the president's decisions, Shokhin may feel that business is a more interesting place to be right now," said Richard Hainsworth, CEO of the RusRating bank rating agency.
"Shokhin may understand that the committee chair is his ceiling," Korgunyuk said. "He most likely decided the post at Renaissance Capital has more potential and he's probably right."
"I've received such offers from large oligarchic structures before," Shokhin said at a news conference Wednesday. "But only now do I have a moral right to quit politics."
Shokhin said that the government reform movement has reached "critical mass," despite big gaps in pension reform legislation and delays in developing bank deposit guarantee legislation.
A member of the pro-Kremlin People's Deputy faction, Shokhin has spent the past 15 years in politics, serving as a Duma deputy with stints as labor minister, economics minister and deputy prime minister in the early 1990s. He was also the shortest-lived deputy prime minister under former President Boris Yeltsin, resigning after one week in 1998 in protest against Mikhail Zadornov's appointment as finance minister.
Shokhin said his leaving could be the impetus for a restructuring of Duma committees -- for example, combining the banking committee with the equally influential budget committee.
But Yury Korgunyuk of Indem said the departure is unlikely to have an impact on the Duma's structure. "If the centrists had the Kremlin's blessing, they would have removed the Communists from the speaker's and other key posts long ago," he said. "If these posts were taken from Communists, they'd be independent and, moreover, insulted. The Kremlin doesn't need that."
Replacing Shokhin may nevertheless present problems, Korgunyuk said. Under the Duma agreement parceling out committee posts to various factions, someone from the People's Deputy party must head the banking committee. But there are no banking specialists in the party, and no party members were among Shokhin's committee deputies, Korgunyuk said.
Renaissance CEO Stephen Jennings said that the recruitment of Shokhin is part of Renaissance's plan to develop internationally. Renaissance, which posted revenues in excess of $100 million in 2001, became the first Russia-based member of the London Stock Exchange in February, and on Tuesday it announced that it had snagged executives and managers from six leading Western financial firms.
Analysts said that Shokhin's decision to leave the Duma was a rational one.
"If the chairman of a major Duma committee ... gives up his position to work at an investment bank, it indicates the Duma is a less effective place for wielding influence. Given that the Duma is rubber-stamping the president's decisions, Shokhin may feel that business is a more interesting place to be right now," said Richard Hainsworth, CEO of the RusRating bank rating agency.
"Shokhin may understand that the committee chair is his ceiling," Korgunyuk said. "He most likely decided the post at Renaissance Capital has more potential and he's probably right."