The 1st International Banking Congress was held in Frankfurt-am-Main in the autumn of 1991, with Saint-Petersburg represented by the Mayor A. Sobchak and Chairman of Russia's Central Bank Department for Saint-Petersburg Mr.V. Khalanski. Anatoly Sobchak proposed in his statement to hold subsequent banking congresses in Saint-Petersburg.

On the initiative of the Central Bank of Russia and with the approval of the Russian Government a decision was made to approach the world's major banking institutions to hold an International Banking Congress in Saint-Petersburg.

This proposal found a broad response among major international banking and financial institutions and auditing firms.

For organizing such congresses, a non-government "Foundation For Support of the International Banking Congress" was set up on 16 January 1992 and renamed to become "Saint-Petersburg Public Foundation For Support of International Banking Congresses" in 1998.

As a result, the 1st International Banking Congress to be held in Saint-Petersburg took place in April 1992, with more than 350 participants from 50 countries taking part in its work. Vladimir Putin, the incumbent President of Russian Federation and the then Vice-Mayor of Saint-Petersburg was a member of organizing committees of the first five IBC held over here.

Representatives of world's central, national and major commercial banks, major auditing firms, rating agencies and other financial institutions took part in subsequent international banking congresses and fora, among them Bank of England, Bank of France, U.S.Federal Reserve System banks, World Bank, EBRD, Deutsche Bank, Dresdner Bank, Credit Lyonnaise, BNP, Nomura Bank International, IMF, PriceWaterhouseCoopers, Arthur Andersen, Ernst and Young, Deloitte and Touche, Standard and Poors, central and commercial banks of CIS, and many more.


Saint-Petersburg Public Foundation for Support of International Banking Congresses is a voluntary NGO.
The Foundation was set up to promote banking business and international banking events in North-West Russia.

• Assist in the development of banking;
• Promote the development of modern banking infrastructure including bank auditing in Saint-Petersburg;
• Setting the stage for and holding successfully International Banking Congresses in Saint-Petersburg;
• Drawing on experience in the work and interaction of banks as well as education and training of bank employees.