Bank of Georgia announces a new appointment to its Board of Directors

Bank of Georgia Holdings PLC (“BGH”), the holding company of JSC Bank of Georgia (“the Bank”), Georgia’s leading bank announces a new appointment to the Board of Directors of BGH (‘the Board”) effective immediately.

Ms Hanna Loikkanen joins the Board as an independent non-executive director. She will also join the Supervisory Board of the Bank, subject to the regulatory approval. Hanna Loikkanen previously served as a non-independent non-executive director of BGH and the Bank when East Capital held a significant shareholding of BGH and stepped down from the Board in 2013. The Board deems Ms Loikkanen fully independent upon her recent appointment as a result of the sale of East Capital’s stake in BGH in 2013, her departure as an employee from East Capital and the absence of any material business dealings between BGH and East Capital over the last 3 years.

“I am happy to welcome back Hanna to our first-class Board of Directors. Hanna brings with her a wealth of knowledge and experience that we believe will be a valuable addition the current skill mix within the Board. The independence of character and judgment, that she has demonstrated during her previous term as BGH’s Director ensures that our Board stays fully independent in line with our commitment to high standards of corporate governance. Her appointment also reinforces our aim to increase the number of women on the Board, as we set out in the Board Diversity Policy we adopted in 2014,” said Neil Janin, Chairman of the Board of Directors.

Biography
Hanna-Leena (Hanna) Loikkanen. Ms Loikkanen has over 20 years of experience in working with financial institutions in Russia and Eastern Europe. She currently serves as an advisor to the Representative Office of East Capital International AB. Prior to this, she served from 2010 until 2012 as the Chief Representative and Head of the Private Equity team at East Capital, a Swedish asset management company in Moscow, with a special focus on financial institutions. Prior to joining East Capital, Ms Loikkanen held the position of Country Manager and Chief Executive Officer at FIM Group in Russia, a Finnish investment bank, where she was responsible for setting up and running the Bank’s brokerage and corporate finance operations in Russia. Before joining FIM Group, Ms Loikkanen worked for Nordea Finance for several years in various management positions in Poland, the Baltic States and Finland. Earlier in her career, Ms Loikkanen worked for Merita Bank in St. Petersburg as Chief Representative as well as for SEB in Moscow. She holds a Masters degree in Economics and Business Administration from the Helsinki School of Economics.