Petr Aven

Heads Russia's largest private bank, Alfa Bank, which sits within the Alfa Group conglomerate controlled by fellow billionaires Mikhail Fridman, German Khan and Alexei Kuzmichev. Bank plans to merge with Yekaterinburg-based Severnaya Kazna. Grew up in Moscow, attended a well-regarded high school for the city's elite and prestigious Moscow State University. Later worked at the Institute for Systems Studies at the Soviet Academy of Sciences. In 1989 went to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; tapped to be minister of foreign economic relations two years later. In 1994 met Alfa Group's Mikhail Fridman and soon became a shareholder of Alfa-Bank. Owns the largest private collection of Russian art in Russia. Keeps the most valuable pieces of art in the UK.