Hasis Lion Aronovich

Hasis Lion Aronovich

Biography

Born on June 5, 1966 in Kuibyshev (since 1991 - Samara).

In 1989 he graduated from the Kuibyshev Aviation Institute. Academician S.P. Korolev (since 2016 - Samara National Research University named after Academician S.P. Korolev (Samara University)), aircraft engineering.

In 1995 he graduated from the correspondence faculty of the Institute for Retraining and Advanced Training of Personnel in Financial and Banking Specialties of the Financial Academy under the Government of the Russian Federation (since 2010 - Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation), banking.

In 2001 he graduated from St. Petersburg University of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia (jurisprudence).

Awarded a degree: Doctor of Economics.

1988: KuAI

In 1988-1990 worked at the Kuibyshev Aviation Institute as the head of the department of foreign economic activity.

1990: Co-founder of advertising agencies Vekt and InterVolga

In 1990, he co-founded advertising agencies: Vekt and InterVolga.

1991: Head of Samara Trading House

From 1991 to 1993 he headed the Samara Trading House.

1993: Branch Director, Vice President of Avtovazbank

In 1993-1994 He was the director of the branch of Avtovazbank in Samara, since 1995 - Vice President of Avtovazbank.

1994: Arbitration Manager, President of Aviakor

In 1994-1995 worked as an arbitration manager, and from 1995 to 1999, President of Aviakor OJSC.

1997: Vice President of Alfa-Bank

In 1997-1998 - Vice President of Alfa-Bank.

1999: Member of the Board of Directors of TD Perekrestok

From 1999 to 2002 - Member of the Board of Directors of CJSC TD Perekrestok.

2002: Chairman of the Board of Directors of TD Perekrestok

From 2002 to 2006 - Chairman of the Board of Directors of CJSC TD Perekrestok.

2006: Chief Executive Officer of X5 Retail Group N.V.

In 2006-2011 he served as Chief Executive Officer of X5 Retail Group N.V.

2011: Senior Vice President, Wal-Mart Stores Inc

In 2011-2013 - Senior Vice President of Wal-Mart Stores Inc.

Lev Khasis about his career, 2012

2015

2013: First Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Sberbank

Since September 2013 - Member of the Management Board, First Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Sberbank. As of January 2021, he oversees and coordinates the work of the International Operations, Technologies, Services units and a number of other areas of the bank's activities.

2017: Chairman of the Board of Directors of Evotor

In January 2017, Lev Khasis headed the updated Board of Directors of Evotor.

2018: Curator of Sberbank Marketing Department

Since December 10, 2018, he became the curator of the Marketing Department (DMIK) of Sberbank, which is responsible for advertising and marketing communications, brand, group pricing policy, market and customer research, promotion of products and client services, as well as external and internal communications of the Sberbank Group.

Competition in the digital business will increase, so competencies in digital marketing, business growth through original mechanics, and the creation of new ways to attract and retain customers will become critical for us. These tasks are among the key ones for DMIK as a division responsible for the competitiveness of our Ecosystem. In addition, we plan to develop marketing competencies not only as an internal service, but also as a client service - a source of income for the Ecosystem. That is why I decided to combine marketing and ecosystem development units of Sberbank under a single curator, First Deputy Chairman of the Management Board Lev Khasis,

One of the goals of the Strategy 2020 adopted by Sberbank was the implementation of initiatives that will allow competing with global technology companies. This competition unfolds in the plane of forming the best customer experience, and not necessarily financial. To do this, the bank launches various digital initiatives, enters into strategic alliances, searches for startups and tests new market niches for itself. Read more here.

2019: Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rambler Group

In September 2019, Lev Khasis, First Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Sberbank, was elected Chairman of the Board of Directors of Rambler Group. The decision was made during the first meeting of members of the Rambler Group Board of Directors after the closing of the transaction with Sberbank, in which the bank became a co-owner of a media group with a 46.5% stake. Read more here.

2020: State Duma deputy asks FSB to check Sberbank because of top foreign managers

State Duma deputy from United Russia Alexander Yakubovsky asked the FSB to check whether Sberbank violates the law by appointing top managers of persons with foreign citizenship. The parliamentarian published a scan of the corresponding deputy request addressed to the head of the special services, Alexander Bortnikov, in June in his telegram channel^[1] the^[2].

FSB Yakubovsky asks to check whether the threat to the national security of Russia is the presence of people with foreign citizenship in high positions in Sberbank.

Yakubovsky's questions, in particular, arose to the deputy chairman of the board of the credit institution Lev Khasis, who has US citizenship. Hasis is considered perhaps the most influential manager in the bank after Herman Gref. The deputy and several other high-ranking employees of Sberbank who have foreign citizenship were listed. According to him, the citizen of Spain is the senior vice president of the bank Yulia Chupina, and the executive vice president of the bank Denis Rafalovsky has US and Israeli citizenship.

2022

Resignation from the post of First Deputy Chairman of the Management Board of Sberbank. Appointment as president of the e-commerce holding created by Sberbank

On February 15, 2022, Sberbank informed TAdviser about the decision to make changes to its organizational structure in the interests of implementing Strategy 2023, and also spoke about personnel changes.

The Supervisory Board of Sberbank considered the request of the First Deputy Chairman of the Management Board Lev Khasis, who decided to complete his work in the Management Board of Sberbank in order to be able to take up his own projects. The Supervisory Board agreed to dismiss him from his post on June 1, 2022, after which Lev will continue to cooperate with Sberbank as a consultant, and will also become President, Chairman of the Board of Directors of the e-commerce holding created by Sberbank.

Blocks, divisions and subsidiaries, which are supervised by Lev Khasis, until June 1, 2022 will be transferred to the supervision of the First Deputy Chairman of the Management Board Alexander Vedyakhin and Kirill Tsarev, other members of the Management Board or transferred to direct subordination to the President, Chairman of the Management Board of Sberbank German Gref. Read more here.

Departure to the United States

On April 18, 2022, it became known about the departure of Lev Hasis to the United States. The former first deputy chairman of the board of Sberbank was supposed to head a new holding in the field of electronic commerce as part of a credit organization.

Khasis left for the States immediately after the start of a special military operation in Ukraine, he has the citizenship of this country, one of the sources in the Russian Internet company told Vedomosti.

This information was confirmed by another source of the newspaper. He added that Khasis left "almost immediately" after the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine. Another source said Hasis had left the country "a couple of days" before the events.

April 18, 2022 it became known about the departure of Lev Hasis to the United States

According to the source of the publication in Sberbank, Lev Khasis left the Russian Federation as one of the first among the top managers of the bank, which "simply shocked the employees." After him, the senior vice president, technical director of the group David Rafalovsky, who oversaw the technology unit, left the key managers, her informant told the newspaper.

According to one of the interlocutors, the departure of Hasis, who developed online retail in the bank, complicated the situation with the express grocery delivery service Scooter"" and, among other factors, led to the decision of the management to reduce his work in the region.

Hasis left the post of first deputy chairman of the bank's board and was supposed to head the bank's new holding, which will be created in the e-commerce segment. According to the interlocutor of Vedomosti in the bank (the article was published on April 18, 2022), no one has yet been engaged in the creation of this holding, although electronic trading is one of the main activities of Sberbank, in addition to the banking business itself.

Lev Khasis himself, as well as a representative of Sberbank, declined to comment on Vedomosti's requests^[3]

Lev Khasis seeks lifting of sanctions from Britain and Canada

Lev Khasis, who was responsible for the construction and development of the Sberbank ecosystem and planned to head the e-commerce holding created by the bank, is trying to lift the sanctions imposed on him by the authorities of Canada and Britain. This follows from the publication of the Miami Herald, based in Miami, USA, citing lawyer Hasis Ashley Taborda^[4].

Hasisa's lawyer noted that her client was added to Canada's sanctions list "erroneously," probably believing that he still works for Sberbank. And Britain followed suit.

We are seeking from the Canadian government to correct this mistake and advise their international colleagues such as the UK to do the same, since this mistake significantly and negatively affects Mr. Hasis and his close family members, the Miami Herald newspaper quotes the lawyer.

Unlike his former boss, chairman of the board of Sberbank German Gref, and some other ex-colleagues, Lev Khasis did not fall under US sanctions. According to the Miami Herald, two days before the start of Russia's special operation in Ukraine, he resigned from Sberbank. The bank and some of its top executives were later sanctioned by Western countries and their allies. Hasis's lawyer believes that his client did nothing wrong, and even more so nothing for which American sanctions could be imposed on him.

However, Canada and Britain have added the ex-banker to their sanctions lists. This means that he cannot participate in any financial transactions in these countries, as well as in financial transactions with citizens and organizations of these countries around the world.

According to the Miami Herald, after his dismissal from Sberbank, Lev Khasis "settled" in Miami, in a condo near a place that bears the unofficial name "Little Moscow" for being chosen by wealthy immigrants from Russia. The ex-banker is the owner of an American green card, and his wife, who was born in Russia, and children have American citizenship, the newspaper reports. He and his family moved to the States in 2011, when he took a leadership position at Wal-Mart. A year later, they bought three condos from Sunny Isles Beach in Miami. And in 2013, he got a job at Sberbank and since then has divided his time between the United States and Russia.

The Miami Herald notes that in parallel with his work in Russia, Lev Khasis had close financial ties with the United States. Together with other Russian emigrants, he developed a real estate rental business in the United States. He was also the co-founder of the California-based Momentum company, which provides infrastructure space services. Its clients include NASA and Lockheed Martin.

In 2021, Hasis sold his stake in Momentum after the US Department of Defense considered the presence of Russian co-owners in such a company^[5] 2021 as a threat^[6] national security.

2023: Sanctions relief

In July 2023, Britain excluded ex-deputy chairman of Sberbank Lev Khasis from the sanctions list. As stated in the notice posted on the website of the British government, Hasis had assets frozen, and a ban on the provision of trust services was in effect against him. But now these restrictions have been lifted. And later that year, in November, Canada removed Lev Hasis from the sanctions list. This was evidenced by data published on the website of the Canadian government.

2025: Development of an American AI startup with David Rafalovsky

As TAdviser discovered in early 2026, former First Deputy Chairman of Sberbank Lev Khasis is now on the team of FashionTech startup for smart clothing selection Aiuta, based in the United States. On the company's website, he is declared as chairman. One of the co-founders of Aiuta is his ex-colleague, former executive vice president, chief technical director and head of the technology block of Sberbank David Rafalovsky. Another co-founder was the former head of SberDevices and the head of development of the Yandex smart speaker Konstantin Kruglov. Read more here.

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