Viktor Vladimirovich Gerashchenko (Russian: Виктор Владимирович Геращенко; 21 December 1937 – 11 May 2025), nicknamed Heracles (Russian: Геракл), was a Soviet and Russian economist and banker who served as the Governor of the State Bank of the USSR, then Governor of the Bank of Russia during much of the Perestroika and post-Perestroika periods.
Contents
Life and career
Viktor Gerashchenko was born in Leningrad on 21 December 1937. His father was a leading Soviet banker who ran the Financial Department of the Foreign Office in the 1940s before ending his career as deputy governor of the State Bank. Due to his father's connections, Viktor made a brilliant career in the Soviet banking system. At the age of 28 he became director of the Soviet-controlled Moscow Narodny Bank in London.
In 1982, Gerashcheko moved to work in the Vneshtorgbank, responsible for Soviet foreign trade. Seven years later he was appointed governor of the Board of the USSR State Bank. In 1989, Gerashchenko became the last governor of the State Bank of the USSR. For three years, which proved to be some of the most difficult for Russian national economics, he steered the nascent banking system as governor of the Bank of Russia.