aclav Horak will become Country CEO in the Czech Republic and Slovakia as of 1 August 2017. Vaclav will report to David Minol, Group Regional Executive Director.
Vaclav Horak joins Home Credit Group from BNP Paribas Personal Finance Central Europe, where he worked as CIO. Before Vaclav joined BNP Central Europe, he worked for its Czech consumer finance arm, Cetelem. Vaclav has been with the company from its launch on the Czech market and latterly served as its CEO for nine years. During his time there, he helped the company grow into one of the leading players in Czech consumer finance. In many ways, Cetelem and Home Credit are the two “co-founders” of this financial services segment in the country. Since he joined the financial services industry 25 years ago, Vaclav has had a wide-ranging and successful managerial career and gained extensive experience in regulated financial firms.
Vaclav studied at the University of Chemistry and Technology, and has a postgraduate degree in banking at the University of Economics in Prague.
Commenting on the change in the Czech and Slovakia Country Management Team, Jiri Smejc, Group CEO said: “Let me welcome Vaclav on board and wish him a good, fast start as he leads the two countries forward towards our ambition of becoming the leading FinTech lender. I wish him all the success in this challenging job which is critical to our continued success in our two ‘home markets’. Let me also take this opportunity to thank David Bystrzycki for his long years at the helm of Home Credit Czech Republic and Slovakia. David has led our operations through an impressive transformation from one of many non-banks into the most-recognized consumer finance lender here.”