Bulgaria’s new Head of the Financial Supervision Commission, Stoyan Mavrodiev, will announce the names of the four new members of the Commission by the end of the week.

Mavrodiev said he did not ask the current members of the Commission to remain at work. He proposed the positions to more than four experts and has received their positive answers.

He also said that the new staff of the Financial Supervision Commission should be ready two weeks after his election as the new Head, which was one week ago.

In his words, he needs to choose three vice-presidents and one member of the commission.

“We have started a discussion with the colleagues from the Commission and we are working on the analysis of the whole institution. I think the audit will be done as soon as the three vice-presidents and the one member of the Commission are elected. What leads me now is ambition and positive outlook,” Mavrodiev said.

He noted that the short-list of candidates is longer than what the Commission needs and the four finalists will be announced by the end of the week.

Currently, Bulgaria’s banking and crediting sector is supervised by the Bulgarian National Bank, whereas the insurance firms, retirement funds, and other non-banking financial companies are monitored by the Financial Supervision Commission. The Commission is independent and is accountable to the Parliament.

In April, the Bulgarian government decided to shrink the size of the Commission from 7 to 5 members. The suggestion was upheld by the Economy Committee of the Bulgarian Parliament, which approved draft amendments of the Financial Supervision Commission Act.

Members of the ruling party GERB, including the Chair of the Parliamentary Finance Committee Menda Stoyanova, have put forth the idea of setting up a unified body for financial supervision in Bulgaria by the end of 2010, merging banking and non-banking supervision. However, no specific plans have been made public yet.

Bulgaria’s new Head of the Financial Supervision Commission, Stoyan Mavrodiev, will announce the names of the four new members of the Commission by the end of the week.

Mavrodiev said he did not ask the current members of the Commission to remain at work. He proposed the positions to more than four experts and has received their positive answers.

He also said that the new staff of the Financial Supervision Commission should be ready two weeks after his election as the new Head, which was one week ago.

In his words, he needs to choose three vice-presidents and one member of the commission.

“We have started a discussion with the colleagues from the Commission and we are working on the analysis of the whole institution. I think the audit will be done as soon as the three vice-presidents and the one member of the Commission are elected. What leads me now is ambition and positive outlook,” Mavrodiev said.

He noted that the short-list of candidates is longer than what the Commission needs and the four finalists will be announced by the end of the week.