The sleeping beauty of the BSE: The Board of Directors

The commotion around the replacement of the Board of the Exchange in late December and in early January, the statements such as "there is a need for change!, "the other guys were bad, we are good!", "we will outdo everyone!" have been replaced by... silence.

Sshhh!

They must be hard at work!

On Monday, the new president Lucian Anghel presented the strategy of the Bucharest Stock Exchange until 2015, drawn up by his team, in the first session of the Board of Directors, held until February 9th, 2012.

It took a month to hold that crucial session.

The CNVM did not drag its feet; according to Lucian Anghel, the CNVM behaved exemplarily, and validated the new Board of Directors within 48 hours after their paperwork was submitted.

It took them a month to hold the first meeting of the Board, but it happened eventually! The Board set a new strategy, but there was a new hurdle... There is no one to implement it, because the Stock Exchange hasn't had a general manager since November... The strategy does not mention any concrete objectives, precisely for that reason... They need to be set in cooperation with the new CEO.

Ever since last year, the press has wondered who is going to replace Valentin Ionescu, who was fired in November, with the claim that he had failed to meet his contractual targets. Various scenarios were made, but the most plausible alternative was that the BSE would hire a headhunting firm to find a manager for it.

• The elections of the Bucharest Stock Exchange

On Monday, the Board of the Exchange has confirmed that it has decided (also in its first meeting) to go to a headhunting firm.

But this is where the hard part starts.

The directors have some crucial choices to make.

First of all, the BSE will need to hold an election to choose the executive search company.

Oops! First they must choose consultants for the auction, a secretary that would draft the announcement and last but not least, when and how to publish it.

Sorry! Before they do all that, they need to choose the date of the next meeting.

Surprise, for now nobody knows when it will take place, but there is hope it will happen before the snow goes away.

After that, the company selected to find the proposal of general manager will get to work.

Good luck!

Last month, head-hunter George Butunoiu said that a company with expertise in the field of headhunting would probably take one month to find a general manager, but that the internal procedures of the BSE might complicate the process.

Could he have been right?

The company in question is set to present a short list of candidates for the Board of the BSE, which will elect the new general manager.

Another election?

Sigh...

And only then, god knows when, the gaps in the strategy will be filled with clearly quantified goals, which the executive will take on.

On Monday, Lucian Anghel said that the process for the selection of a new general manager is being conducted as urgently as possible.

What exactly does that mean? That the appointing of a new general manager would not take as long as the birth of an offspring in elephants (which takes 22 months), or at least in humans, which takes nine months?

Mihai Răzvan Ungureanu had his team lined up immediately after his appointment as prime minister: the government meets every Tuesday at 9:30 AM.

This kind of rigor would be more than welcome at the BSE.

We ask again: when will the Bucharest Stock Exchange have a new managing director? What achievements does the Board expect from him? How is he going to implement them? Sleeping beauty, are you awake yet?