In 1991, Pugachev established one of the first cooperative banks in the USSR, the Northern Commercial Bank. In 1993, he sold his share. In 1992, he organised the International Industrial Bank. At the end of the 1990s, he acquired Yenisei Industrial Company, holding an exploration licence for the region of the Ulug-Khemsky District in Southern Siberia. In the process of exploration and experimental production, the largest coking coal deposit in the world was developed. In 2000, Yenisei obtained a licence for exploration and production of coal at the Elegest deposit. The investment commission of the Russian Federation financed infrastructure for this project in the amount of 1.5 billion dollars, a record investment in the development of a private company.