ALMOST THREE MONTHS AFTER THE ELECTION OF NEW MANAGEMENT Deadlock at the SIFs, because the ASF has not approved the new board members

Two SIFs are in complete deadlock and one more is getting close to a similar situation, as the Financial Oversight Authority (ASF) has not approved the new board members elected in the General Shareholder Meetings of April.

The terms of the executives of SIF1 Banat Crişana and SIF5 Oltenia expired shortly after the General Shareholder Meetings, meaning that the two SIFs are living on the edge, being allowed only to perform the operations needed for their survival, namely to pay bills, fees, salaries. However, they may not carry out their line of business, meaning to make investments. For instance, the two SIFs were not able to participate in the two IPOs on the stock exchange - Digi Communications and AAGES.

SIF2 Moldova will soon be in that same situation. According to Costel Ceocea, the CEO elect of SIF2, the company's bylaws stipulate that the company may exercise their roles until the approval of the new administrators, and the current executives will be able to function another 90 days after the expiration of their terms. The three month delay will expire sometime in early July, according to Mr. Ceocea.

Even though the regulations of the ASF stipulate that the requests for approval for individually with executive positions must be resolved within 30 days, the interviews only began two weeks ago.

Some voices claim that ASF officials want to issue an approval at the same time for all the SIFs that held an election in April. So far however, the Board of Directors of the ASF could not meet, because the only persons that could summon it were the president and first vice-president, and the Parliament dismissed Mişu Negriţoiu from the position of president, and demoted Cornel Coca Constantinescu to the position of vice-president in charge of the insurance sector.

Yesterday however, the PSD deputy Leonardo Badea has approved favorably, with a majority of votes, by the reunited budget-finance Commissions, for the position of president of the Financial Oversight Authority, the social-democrat saying that he wasn't coming to the ASF for a position, but for a project that he believed in.

Besides, immediately after the dismissal of Mişu Negriţoiu, the president of the PSD Liviu Dragnea announced that he would propose Leonardo Badea to hold the position of president of the ASF.

The members of the commissions have also approved, with 35 de votes in favor, 5 against and 6 abstentions, Ovidiu Răzvan Wlassopol (the former husband of Olguţa Vasilescu), for the position of first vice-president of the ASF, according to news.ro.

Leonardo Badea said, at the end of the meeting of the specialized commissions: "It is a very short term, of just a few months, but it is a challenge, a very important market, in fact several markets that this authority regulates, and we have thought it was good for Romania, for us, to try and raise the level of trust in this Authority and to try and raise the protection of consumers of financial services and products. I already told you that I am not coming in for a position, but for a project".

When asked about his intentions on the RCA policies, Leonardo Badea claimed that the consumers' interests need to be protected. "Our intention was very clear from the beginning, that we should have a fair insurance policy for Romanians and to protect the consumers' interests. In other words they need to take into account all the elements of calculations, we are referring to the fact that this policy should not include amounts that are not economically justifiable. It is a formula", the PSD deputy concluded.

The proposals for the management of the ASF are going to be subjected to the vote of the joint chambers of Parliament.

So far, the ASF has interviewed the elected management of SIF Banat Crişana, SIF Moldova and SIF Oltenia, and it is soon set to hear the Supervisory Board of SIF3 Transilvania. However, SIF3 is not n the same position as its peers, as it has a dual management structure.