"I believe the Central Bank has conducted reasonable policies over the past few years and there is no need to introduce corrections to those policies," he told lawmakers.
The Duma voted 290-40 to appoint him, with four abstentions. Fifty-four Communists and 34 Agrarians boycotted the vote.
Ignatyev, 54, said he did not expect much staff reshuffling and many of those working at the Central Bank would stay.
He also promised to keep Sberbank on a tight leash. Sberbank has a near monopoly of the country's retail market because it is the only bank that offers state guarantees for deposits.
"I think that for the next few years it will be necessary to maintain Central Bank control over Sberbank," he said. "It makes sense to maintain the status quo as long as a system for guarantees of deposits in commercial banks has not been set up and demonstrated its effectiveness and as long as Sberbank has not been put into this system. This will take several years."
The Duma had earlier voted to accept the resignation of Viktor Gerashchenko. President Vladimir Putin asked the Duma late Friday to relieve Gerashchenko of the post and appoint First Deputy Finance Minister Ignatyev.
Gerashchenko was widely criticized for maintaining an artificially strong ruble by keeping the exchange rate steady against the dollar despite double-digit inflation. But over the past two to three months the ruble was allowed to depreciate more quickly, and Ignatyev has pledged not to change that policy.
In his speech to the Duma, Ignatyev said he would continue Gerashchenko's policy of supporting a strong ruble, calling it "adequate to the situation on world markets."
The ruble eased by less than a kopek against the dollar in official trade to close at 31.1325 on Wednesday. The ruble has fallen by about 6 kopeks since Gerashchenko announced his resignation after markets closed Friday.
Despite Gerashchenko's close association with the strong ruble policy, the ruble's fall so far has been less than some traders initially predicted. Most now expect the bank to oversee a measured decline in the exchange rate.
Traders said the Central Bank had spent at least $350 million of its $37 billion reserves on buying rubles to prop up the currency since Gerashchenko tendered his resignation.
"The market is calm. In the morning the Central Bank intervened in the market and stopped a further dollar rise. Now we are seeing some dollar sales," said Artyom Roshchin, a dealer at Aljba-Alliance bank.
Ignatyev also told the Duma that he supported the gradual liberalization of currency restrictions.
Under Gerashchenko, the Central Bank maintained tight control over the currency market thanks to a rule that required exporters to sell 75 percent of their foreign currency revenues to the bank. Last summer, the Cabinet brought the figure down to 50 percent.
(Reuters, AP)
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