Amendments to the activity of the Romanian Financial Supervisory Authority

Government Emergency Ordinance no. 55, published on 6 June 2013 (“GEO 55/2013”), has amended Government Emergency Ordinance no. 93/2012 (“GEO 93/2012”) dealing with the establishment, organization and function of the Financial Supervisory Authority (“FSA”), as approved by Law no. 113/2013. The amendment of GEO 93/2013 came only five weeks after the FSA was established in accordance with the government’s intention to promote a coherent package of macroeconomic policies and measures aimed at ensuring financial stability. These measures were intended to help Romania reach its public deficit targets.

GEO 55/2013 reduces the number of the FSA board members from seventeen to eleven. The FSA board will thus have five executive members (i.e. one president, one primary vice president, and three vice presidents, one for each of the regulated sectors: insurance, capital markets and private pensions), and six non-executive members. All FSA board members are to be appointed by the Parliament for a five-year mandate and are required to have at least ten years of professional experience (in the financial, credit institutions or non-banking financial institutions sectors). Previous regulation had required that FSA executive members have seven years of professional experience, and FSA non-executive members have five years of professional experience.

The appointment of the new FSA board members pursuant to GEO 55/2013 will be made by the Parliament by 30 June 2013. In addition, the new regulation indicates that the level of FSA board members’ remuneration cannot exceed the remuneration that is provided to the National Bank of Romania board members. Finally, the GEO 55/2013 provides that 80% of the annual FSA budget surplus will be transferred to the state budget.

It is expected that the new board structure will better react to the regulated and supervised sectors needs. However, a more detailed response of industry representatives is anticipated once the new FSA board members are actually appointed.