Martin Zaimov (born 16 April 1962) is a

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

financier An investor is a person who allocates financial capital with the expectation of a future return (profit) or to gain an advantage (interest). Through this allocated capital the investor usually purchases some species of property. Types of in ...

and politician, former deputy governor of the

Bulgarian National Bank The Bulgarian National Bank (, , BNB) is the central bank of the Republic of Bulgaria. It has also been Bulgaria's national competent authority within European Banking Supervision since 2020. Headquartered in Sofia, the bank was established in ...

(1997-2003) and candidate for

mayor of Sofia This is a chronological list of mayors of Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, since that post was established after the Liberation of Bulgaria in 1878. The first governor of Sofia was Petr Alabin. Initially, the mayors of Sofia were assigned by the ...

in 2007. Zaimov was born in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

, where his mother Klavdia Zaimova was working at the World Health Organization. His father was the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

long-time

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foreign correspondent Michael Goldsmith. Zaimova and Goldsmith later divorced. Martin Zaimov belongs to the noted Zaimov family: he is the grandson of General Vladimir Zaimov and the great-grandson of revolutionary

Stoyan Zaimov Stoyan Stoyanov Zaimov ( Bulgarian: Стоян Стоянов Заимов; 12 August 1853 – 9 September 1932) was a Bulgarian educator, writer and revolutionary; closely associated with the April Uprising. Biography In the late 1860s, whil ...

. Zaimov graduated in electronic technology at the

Technical University of Sofia The Technical University of Sofia () is Bulgaria's largest and foremost academic establishment for higher engineering education. The university is a state-owned entity with academic self-governance. Founded on 15 October 1945 as part of the Highe ...

, economics at

Birkbeck College Birkbeck, University of London (formally Birkbeck College, University of London), is a public research university located in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. Established in 1823 as the London Mechanics' ...

and European Studies at the

London School of Economics The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), established in 1895, is a public research university in London, England, and a member institution of the University of London. The school specialises in the social sciences. Founded ...

. Zaimov has three children, Sara (born in 1993), Thomas (1998) and Zacharie (2009). Martin Zaimov emigrated from Bulgaria in 1986 but came back after the collapse of the communist regime. He then worked for the French branch of Coopers & Lybrand and later for the international trader Louis Dreyfus. In 1997, he became vice minister of Commerce in the interim government and introduced sweeping liberalisation to trade by scrapping price controls and customs tariffs. On 1 July 1997, Zaimov was elected Deputy Governor of the Bulgarian National Bank by Parliament and effectively became the person in charge of the Bulgarian

currency board In public finance, a currency board is a mechanism by which a monetary authority is required to maintain a fixed exchange rate with a foreign currency by fully backing the commitment with foreign holdings, or reserves. This policy objective requ ...

. In 2007, Martin Zaimov ran for Mayor of Sofia, supported by the

right-wing Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property ...

Union of the Democratic Forces and

Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria Democrats for a Strong Bulgaria () is a list of political parties in Bulgaria, political party in Bulgaria established by former Bulgarian Prime Minister Ivan Kostov (1997–2001). History Kostov resigned as chairman of the United Democratic F ...

. Zaimov came second with 17.77% of votes, behind

Boyko Borisov Boyko Metodiev Borisov (, born 13 June 1959) is a Bulgarian politician who served as Prime Minister of Bulgaria on three separate occasions, serving a total of 9 years between 2009 and 2021, making him the country's longest-serving post-communi ...

, the founder of

GERB GERB, an acronym for Citizens for European Development of Bulgaria (), is a conservative center-right populist political party which was the ruling party of Bulgaria during the periods between 2009–2013, 2014-2021, 2025-present and was suppor ...

who gathered 53.43%. Zaimov then spent 4 years as Deputy Chair of Sofia's Municipal Council. He was instrumental in the city administration's shift in mobility, urban planning and nature preservation policies. Since 2007, he has been board member of

Société Générale Société Générale S.A. (), colloquially known in English-speaking countries as SocGen (), is a French multinational universal bank and financial services company founded in 1864. It is registered in downtown Paris and headquartered nearby i ...

-owne
Expressbank.
Since 2011 he has managed an urban regeneratio
fund
subsidiary of the bank, financed by the EU JESSICA Initiative. He has been a member of the boards of trustees of the Institute for Market Economics (1993-2015), the

American University in Bulgaria The American University in Bulgaria (AUBG) is a private university in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria. Established in 1991, AUBG had about 1,000 students from over 40 countries on 5 continents as of Fall 2022. Close to 40% of the students are internationa ...

(2000-2010) and the Centre for Advanced Study in Sofia (2008–2016). Martin Zaimov is a founding member of th
Bulgarian Electric Vehicles Association
and since then has been an active promoter of electric mobility.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Zaimov, Martin 1962 births Bulgarian politicians Bulgarian businesspeople Bulgarian people of British descent Living people