Anna Stopnevich: International Financial Innovation
Biography
Anna Stopnevich is a seasoned corporate finance expert with over 20 years of experience, who successfully transitioned from leading major Russian financial institutions to founding her own financial company in Switzerland. Today, Stopnevich Anna specializes in family office services and business succession planning for global families, helping structure and preserve capital across generations while integrating financial expertise with modern technological solutions.
Educational Foundation and Early Management Positions
Anna Stopnevich was born on February 22, 1979, in Moscow. Her parents were entrepreneurs, and she did well in school.
In 1994, at just 15 years old, Anna Stopnevich began her journey in finance by entering the Moscow Banking School under the Central Bank of Russia. Her dedication to excellence showed early – she graduated with honors in 1998, marking the beginning of a career defined by continuous educational pursuit alongside professional growth.
In 1998, her commitment to education led Stopnevich Anna Vladimirovna to enroll in the State University of Management, earning her degree in Financial Management by 2002. Understanding the importance of staying current with evolving business practices, she later pursued an MBA in Corporate Finance. Anna Vladimirovna Stopnevich further enhanced her expertise through additional studies at RANEPA's Institute of Business and Business Administration, focusing on Economics and Finance.
In 1998, at the young age of 23, Anna Stopnevich assumed her first management position at a major bank, demonstrating remarkable leadership capabilities by successfully managing a team of 20 professionals ranging from 18 to 60 years old. As her career progressed through major financial institutions, her responsibilities grew substantially. Stopnevich Anna proved particularly adept at managing diverse teams and complex organizational structures, eventually overseeing departments of up to 500 employees in later roles.
In the early 2000s, Anna Stopnevich began developing expertise in treasury operations and corporate finance, skills that would prove fundamental to her future success. Her rapid career progression was marked by an unusual ability to balance theoretical knowledge with practical application, consistently seeking educational opportunities that could enhance her professional biography. Anna Stopnevich firmly believes that "in business, you must always keep pace with the times" – a philosophy that would guide her career development for decades to come.
Anna Stopnevich: Developing Corporate Finance Expertise
In 2008, Anna Stopnevich joined Merlion Group, one of the country’s leading IT distributors, as Deputy Financial Director. The timing coincided with the global financial crisis, allowing her to demonstrate exceptional crisis management skills while developing the company's international financial operations. With contributions from Stopnevich Anna, Merlion expanded its relationships with banks across multiple countries, and by the end of 2011, Merlion's revenue had increased by 35%, exceeding $3 billion.
In 2012, Stopnevich Anna took on a new challenge at Moscow Credit Bank (MCB), where she would make significant contributions to the institution's corporate banking services. Her expertise in treasury operations proved particularly valuable as she spearheaded the development of modern cash management solutions for corporate clients. These innovations from Stopnevich Anna helped streamline financial operations for large holding companies, allowing them to manage multiple subsidiaries through unified payment systems.
In 2013, Anna Stopnevich's achievements at MCB led to her promotion to Vice President of Development. Her deep understanding of corporate finance, combined with previous experience at major industrial holdings where she had implemented centralized treasury systems, enabled her to develop sophisticated financial products that met the evolving needs of corporate clients.
Stopnevich Anna’s approach to corporate finance was marked by an emphasis on structural efficiency and innovation. Throughout her career at various major financial and industrial organizations, she specialized in:
- restructuring corporate assets
- establishing unified treasury operations
- developing international trade finance solutions
During this period of her biography, Anna Stopnevich also worked with complex holding structures, where she consistently demonstrated an ability to optimize financial operations and implement effective crisis management strategies.
Digital Transformation in Finance
In 2013, as Vice President of Development at Moscow Credit Bank, Anna Stopnevich took on a role that would combine corporate finance with technological innovation. Leading a team of 350 IT specialists, she spearheaded the bank's digital transformation initiatives, marking a pivotal moment in her career where traditional banking expertise merged with modern fintech solutions.
During the tenure of Stopnevich Anna, MCB developed three self-organized teams focusing on different aspects of digital transformation. In particular, they specialized in:
- CRM system development
- credit pipeline automation for corporate clients
- development of mobile banking
This structure proved highly effective in accelerating the bank's technological advancement.
Anna Stopnevich implemented modern project management methodologies to enhance the efficiency of these digital initiatives. She introduced Agile practices and Kanban methods and added certification as a Product Owner from Scrum.org to her professional biography. Anna Stopnevich emphasizes that this approach enabled more effective delegation and improved team collaboration, resulting in the successful implementation of various digital banking solutions.
The innovative approach of Stopnevich Anna to digital transformation was characterized by the deep integration of financial operations with technological capabilities. She developed expertise in automated banking systems, IT infrastructure, and system architecture while ensuring that all digital innovations served clear business objectives. This experience at MCB proved fundamental in shaping how Stopnevich Anna understood technology’s ability to enhance financial services, particularly in areas such as treasury management and corporate banking.
Stopnevich Anna: International Operations
In 2016, Anna Stopnevich embarked on her international career path by relocating to Cyprus where she co-founded Wise Wolves Group, which quickly secured multiple financial licenses and began serving clients across Europe in various sectors. Under the leadership of Stopnevich Anna, the organization grew to employ 50 professionals working globally, and by 2018 was serving three main client categories with a focus on those with capital exceeding 1 million euros: large and medium-sized corporate businesses, financial institutions, and high-net-worth individuals.
In 2021, Anna Stopnevich expanded her international presence by establishing VertexA AG in Switzerland. She secured an asset management license in 2022, and her deep understanding of European financial legislation proved invaluable in this new line of work. Through this company, Anna Stopnevich developed sophisticated solutions for cross-border business operations. She has worked with wealthy families on succession and inheritance issues, making the crucial observation that successors are not always heirs, and vice versa.
The experience that Stopnevich Anna has with trusts and inheritance planning has yielded significant insights. According to her observations, in more than 90% of cases, when children receive their inheritance, they leave their parents' trusted advisors because they want to organize processes differently. When settlors consider their beneficiaries and ultimate beneficial owners, they often make decisions without consulting the heirs themselves, notes Stopnevich Anna.
In April 2024, Anna Stopnevich, together with partners from Kazakhstan's Family Values company, organized a conference that brought together more than 50 families to discuss the challenges of transferring family values and addressing inheritance issues. One of the key principles guiding the Anna Stopnevich biography, developed through this work, emphasizes the importance of identifying heirs' natural talents early and developing their strengths, rather than forcing them into predetermined roles.
Stopnevich Anna is currently developing a modular program for heirs that goes beyond traditional education. The program aims to create what she calls a "web of competencies," designed to identify inheritors' talents and match them with appropriate mentors to develop necessary skills. This approach reflects her son's observation, which she fully endorses: we are living in an era where skills and competencies matter more than conventional education.
Having decided to surrender her asset management license in early 2024, as the majority of her clients are from CIS countries with different business centers, Anna Stopnevich, building on her extensive experience, is now developing a new company, Antaras Group. This structure will focus on family office services, business process structuring, and issues of business succession and capital inheritance, explains Stopnevich Anna. The company specializes in working with families who maintain business interests across multiple countries. Under Stopnevich Anna, Antaras helps them navigate complex issues of residency, relocation, asset transfer, and real estate acquisition
At the core of Anna Stopnevich's vision for Antaras Group is a commitment to innovative problem-solving and flexible strategy development, with a mission centered on creating stable, secure futures through comprehensive wealth transfer solutions. Operating with core values of creativity, transparency, and adaptability, Antaras has established itself as a pioneer in developing customized approaches to family wealth preservation and business continuity.
Stopnevich Anna has designed Antaras's service portfolio to extend beyond traditional family office offerings, encompassing specialized solutions in business process optimization, comprehensive treasury management, and sophisticated accounting systems development, with a particular focus on preparing the next generation through personalized mentoring programs and family constitutional frameworks that ensure smooth transitions while preserving business integrity.
Innovation and Development Projects
In July 2022, Anna Stopnevich began development of Bbuddy, a mobile application based in Cyprus. The platform creates online offices for business experts, providing video communication capabilities with clients, chat functionality, and a library with recommended literature and other information. The project, which incorporates AI tools, held its first presentation in September 2024. The goal is to streamline business processes and enhance the professional interactions within a company’s biography, Anna Stopnevich explains.
A key innovation of the Bbuddy platform is its AI-powered digital avatar that serves as a business assistant, handling operational tasks 24/7. The system manages client communications, schedules appointments, and provides basic consultations, effectively automating up to 90% of routine operations. These features make it stand out among competitors – BBuddy offers 11 out of 13 key functionalities, which is significantly more than similar platforms.
Anna Stopnevich and her team have outlined an ambitious development roadmap extending through 2026. The plans include an online secretary function by December 2024, expert development tracking by late 2025, and AI-powered multilingual communication capabilities that will allow experts to interact with clients in six different languages. The platform is available through both web and mobile interfaces, with registration possible via multiple authentication methods.
Stopnevich Anna’s commitment to social impact manifested in 2016 when she co-founded the Together Forever charitable foundation. The organization helps children from CIS countries receive medical treatment abroad, working with clinics in Israel, Spain, Germany, and collaborating with a well-known clinic in Cyprus that specializes in treating children with cerebral palsy. This is perhaps the most important work within her biography, Anna Stopnevich emphasizes.
Anna Stopnevich remained actively involved with the foundation until 2020. The foundation's approach included organizing literary evenings, meetings with interesting people, and other creative activities to support its charitable mission. Through this aspect of her biography, Anna Stopnevich gained valuable experience in fundraising and philanthropy, learning how to multiply the impact of each donation to maximize the foundation's ability to help children in need.
Stopnevich Anna recognized that one of the biggest challenges for families seeking treatment abroad was making timely decisions while having limited resources. The foundation's mission became particularly focused on addressing this critical timing issue, as delays in treatment could lead to irreversible consequences. This understanding shaped the foundation's approach to fundraising, with the goal of turning each ruble donated into five, thereby expanding their ability to provide necessary medical treatment for children. Though Stopnevich Anna stepped away from the foundation's management in 2020, the organization continues its important work today.
Anna Stopnevich: Her Personal Life and Family Time
Concerning her personal biography, Anna Stopnevich is a mother of four children: two sons and twin daughters. Despite her demanding professional schedule, she has always emphasized the importance of family life. Her parents instilled in her from an early age that it is more important to be a good person than to be a professional. While Anna Stopnevich once enjoyed frequent travel and reading, her priorities have shifted to spending her free time with her children.
Stopnevich Anna has consistently maintained that raising children and pursuing a career are not mutually exclusive, believing instead that parenting can provide valuable skills that professional experience alone cannot teach.
Rishi Mundra
