THE CONFERENCE "THE FUTURE OF THE ROMANIAN CAPITAL MARKET" - THE 6TH EDITION/MIRCEA URSACHE, ASF: "Ludwik Sobolewski is no longer the CEO of the BSE"

• Cappon, Prodan and Sobolewski yesterday had their interviews for the position of CEO of the BSE

Ludwik Sobolewski is no longer the CEO of the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB), Mircea Ursache, the vice-president of the Financial Oversight Authority (ASF) said yesterday. He added that the ASF has conducted an analysis concerning corporate governance at the BSE.

He was asked what was the result of the research conducted at the market operator, when the ASF analyzed the behavior of president Lucian Anghel concerning the summoning of the Board of Administrators meetings.

The board members of the BSE failed to meet to decide on extending the mandate of Ludwik Sobolewski as CEO, after he notified the market, through a current report, that his contract had expired, while claiming that his mandate hadn't.

Mircea Ursache said: "We have conducted an internal analysis of the governance. It is an internal document, which was not made public. The only element we have made public on this analysis is referring to the contract of the CEO. As long as the contract of the CEO was valid in every aspect, except one, the one concerning the duration of the term, we have intervened on that aspect. Anything else is an internal issue which are looking at in relation to the authorization procedure. I think that it was the correct way to act".

He added: "To us, the major surprise was that the market operator, instead of notifying investors about the decision that we made, meaning the finding of the ASF (ed. note that Sobolewski is no longer a CEO), found it appropriate to answer through the media".

The behavior of the BSE caused by the expiration of Sobolewski's mandate was criticized yesterday, at the "Future of the Romanian Stock Market" conference organized by BURSA.

Cristian Agalopol, Executive Director of Capital Markets at Citi for Romania and Bulgaria, said that it is very hard to increase investor confidence in the BSE, as long as there are dissensions among the board members over the appointment of a new executive.

On the other hand, the president of the Association of Brokers, Dan Paul, who is also a vice-president of the BSE, said that the report signed by Sobolewski couldn't fool anybody, because any Law student knows the provisions of article 2009 of the Civil Code, according to which "the mandate is a contract between two parties".

From the point of view of small investors, the former head of privatizations in the Energy sector, Gabriel Dumitraşcu, stressed that "the lack of ethics" has spread to the BSE as well: "If the market operator is facing the same problem, at the top level management, I ask myself: is anybody thinking of the small investors? Is it worth it for the small investors to invest in the stock market?"

• The Board of the BSE has interviewed the candidates for the position of CEO

The candidates for the position of CEO of the BSE - Paul Prodan, the chairman of the Board of Directors of BT Capital Partners, Andre Cappon, the president of the CBM, Inc Consulting Group of New York, and former CEO Ludwik Sobolewski - yesterday had their job interviews, with the Board of the Exchange, according to some market sources.

The BSE recently announced that it has initiated an internal selection process for the candidates for the CEO position, and the directors of the BSE have made nominations until September 15th.

Since only three names were on the list - Cappon and Prodan have submitted CVs and cover letters, and Sobolewski was included by default, against the selection procedure -, they have all been called in for an interview.

Andre Cappon held the interview first, over the web, from the US, followed by Paul Prodan and Ludwik Sobolewski.

Apparently there is a chance that the selection process will take less time than in the past, even though the BSE has set a precedent when it comes to violating its procedures. In 2013, BSE president Lucian Anghel brought in Sobolewski from Poland, even though the Exchange had hired a head-hunting firm to find a CEO.

The Board of Directors of the BSE is still incomplete, as the ninth member, Radu Hanga, who was elected in the General Shareholder Meeting of September 14th, is in the process of being validated by the Financial Oversight Authority.