RUMORS: THE NEW CEO OF THE BSE, SOUGHT IN THE BANKING INDUSTRY Ciprian Păltineanu, rumored as a potential CEO of the BSE

Even though the management of the Bucharest Stock Exchange has not been officially announced, the result of the interviews for the position of CEO held on September 25th, it seems that already a new search has been launched, which focuses on the banking sector.

In certain circles, the name of Ciprian Păltineanu is being heavily discussed, for the takeover of the heads of the BSE, even though it seems an official discussion has not yet been held on the Board of the Exchange.

Ciprian Păltineanu was a head of the major companies department of UniCredit România, and in 2015, the bank had promoted him to the position of development director of Corporate&Investment Banking in the Central and Eastern Europe division of UniCredit/Bank Austria.

However, since then, disagreements seem to have occurred, because in October 2016, Păltineanu sued Unicredit Bank, on salary demands. The employment -related lawsuits filed by Păltineanu were dismissed by the court, in July 2017 and October 2017.

In 2012, Ciprian Păltineanu was a member of the management of the Romanian Clearing House of Sibiu, back when Sibex was led by Cristian Sima.

The support for Păltineanu seems to be coming from BCR, but according to some sources, BSE president Lucian Anghel has not yet notified the board about this potential nomination.

The management of the BSE held interviews with three candidates for the position of CEO, on September 25th - Paul Prodan, Andre Cappon and former CEO Ludwik Sobolewski. The latter was registered as a candidate without submitting an application. It seems Paul Prodan has withdrawn from the competition.

Since then, the BSE has not taken any step officially, as some voices in the market are saying that it is waiting for the Financial Oversight Authority (ASF) to approve Radu Hanga for his position on the Board of Directors, after he was confirmed by the shareholders, in September, given that he had been co-opted on the Board as early back as July.

Radu Hanga held the evaluation interview at the ASF, at the end of September. At the ASF, the intention seems to be to approve Mr. Hanga but that proposal needs to be subjected to the votes of the Board of the Authority.

Radu Hanga has also been validated by the ASF for the position on the Board of Directors of SIF Oltenia, so the ASF is now delaying in providing an answer it has given before, unless it has some new elements that would affect the assessment of the candidate.

What is certain is that the increasingly longer delay for the approval of the ASF is putting pressure on the management of the BSE, with the expectations being that the latter would appoint a CEO shortly after the vacant seats on the board are filled.