Diplomat Petr Kolář joins financial group PPF

Senior Czech diplomat Petr Kolář has been hired by the international financial group PPF, the company said in a statement on Wednesday. Mr Kolář served in the past as the Czech ambassador to the US and most recently to Russia, and briefly also as an advisor to President Václav Havel. He has been appointed to the newly created position of foreign affairs director at the PPF group, and will mainly focus on the firm’s activities in Asia.

The Dutch-based PPF group, whose majority stake is owned by Czech businessman Petr Kellner, operates in the areas of consumer financing, retail banking and insurance in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Russia and other countries mainly in central and south-east Asia.