Russian businessman Yuri Kovalchuk has an estimated net worth of $1.1 billion as of March 2013 according to Forbes. He is best noted as the "personal banker of Putin." He acquired most of his net worth from his insurance, media and banking investments.

Yury Valentinovich Kovalchuk was born on July 25, 1951 in Leningrad, Soviet Union.  From 1987 through 1991, he worked for Ioffe Physico-Technical Institute as the First Deputy Director. Since 2004, he has been working for Russia bank as the head of its Board of Directors. He is also the bank's largest shareholder. He is the largest shareholder of Rossiya Bank that controls Sogas, which is now considered as one of the largest insurance companies in Russia.

He is also an owner of a dacha in Solovyovka, Priozersky District. His neighbors are renowned Russian personalities such as Vladimir Yakunin, Vladimir Putin, Sergey Fursenko, Andrei Fursenko, Nikolay Shamalov and Vladimir Smirnov.

Yuri Kovalchuk is an alumnus of St Petersburg State University. He is married and has one child.