Deputy chairman the executive board of Russia's Sberbank, Maxim Poletaev, will leave the Russian bank, with official confirmation of the news expected during this week, news agency Reuters reported on Thursday citing two unnamed sources.

The 47-year-old Poletaev joined Sberbank in 1995, and was named deputy chairman in mid-2013. He was incharge of several areas, focusing on investments and corporate banking. Before that he ran the Moscow office of Sberbank. The reason for his departure remains unknown, with Sberbank’s spokesperson reportedly declining to comment.

Reuters said that Poletaev was a Sberbank’s key executive in the talks on the settlement deal to restructure the indebted food and retail group Agrokor, which is expected to be finalised by end of June. Sberbank is the single largest creditor of Agrokor, with a €1.1 billion claim.

Russian news agency Interfax also carried the news and added that Poletaev supervised Sberbank’s entire business line specialised for corporate clients, with a special focus on Agrokor.

Poletaev had visited Zagreb earlier this month and met with Croatian Prime Minister, Andrej Plenkovic. He said after the meeting that he asked to meet with Plenkovic to talk about Sberbank’s position in Agrokor settlement negotiations.

“We asked for this meeting in order to inform Mr Plenkovic about our position in the settlement process. We are close to achieving a compromise, close to getting a deal. I think the meeting with Plenkovic was constructive, and I think we had an understanding,” Poletaev told reporters after the meeting.

Poletaev also said that Sberbank had plans to keep its stake at Agrokor long-term.

A few days later, CEO of Sberbank, Herman Gref, said that the debt-for-equity settlement plan would see the bank acquire a 40 percent stake in Agrokor, and added that the bank was included on the list of company’s creditors with a recognised claim of €650 million.

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