Negritoiu takes helm at beleaguered ASF

Increasing the confidence that local consumers of financial products have in the strength of the Financial Supervision Authority (ASF) is the main priority of Misu Negritoiu, who was approved by Parliament as the new president of the regulator last week.

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Negritoiu’s appointment comes against the backdrop of a fully fledged scandal that has engulfed the ASF in the last three months, culminating with its former president Dan Radu Rusanu being taken into custody on corruption charges.

The regulator was also involved in controversy over the disproportionate pay of its nine board members. The budget-finance special committee in Senate held a hearing last month over the excessive wages at the ASF.

Daniel Daianu, who became the authority’s interim president on February 25, following Rusanu’s arrest, said during the hearing that he would reduce his monthly wage of EUR 12,800 by 30 percent, and apologized to the public for the scandal.

Negritoiu, who has spent the last 17 years at Dutch lender ING, said during last week’s Parliamentary hearings that the main issue at the ASF was not the level of the wages, but the fact they did not reflect the performance of the employees.

“We have to strengthen the supervision and control functions, to assure people that they have public confidence and that they are protected. Over 10 million consumers are connected to this market, not only through RCA (e.n. mandatory car insurance),” said Negritoiu, quoted by Mediafax newswire.

“The institution has to be rebuilt and reprofessionalized. This is what I pledge and I plan to do it. I need time. Of course we have to repair its image,” added Negritoiu, who will assume his role at the ASF on May 1. Parliament also approved the appointment of Victor Ciorbea, who served as prime minister from 1996-1998, as nonexecutive member on the ASF board.

Negritoiu was asked if he had collaborated with Ceausescu’s infamous secret police (known as Securitatea) during Romania’s communist period.

“Regarding collaboration with the Securitatea, I remember 20 years ago, when I was in Parliament (…) Today it is easy to verify these things. I was not (e.n. a collaborator) and I can tell you one more time if you want. I can hand you some interviews I gave 20 years ago,” Negritoiu told MPs.

MPs also asked Negritoiu if he had been involved in transactions processed by ING Bank with banks in Cuba and Iran. ING paid USD 619 million to settle this probe in June 2012. Some US dollar transactions were carried out through ING’s offices in France and Romania, according to Bloomberg newswire.

Negritoiu said the only transaction was carried out before his mandate and that he had been tasked with verifying these issues.

The ASF began operating in April 2013, following the merger of the bodies that regulated the stock exchange, insurance and the private pensions market.

“The main challenge in the coming period is to reestablish a climate of trust in the insurance market and its regulator. Such confidence, once gained, will lead to an increased awareness of the role and importance of insurance as a financial protection tool,” Florentina Almajanu, general manager of the National Union of Insurance Companies in Romania (UNSAR), told BR. She added that the association will fully support the ASF in this role.

Ludwik Sobolewski, CEO of the Bucharest Stock Exchange (BVB), declined to comment on Negritoiu’s appointment.

The ASF has flexed its muscles this year in two separate investigations on the capital market and insurance sector. It sent Romania’s biggest insurer Astra into special administration, claiming it was under-reserved and could not pay claims in the event of a natural disaster. The regulator also handed down a fine of RON 313, 850 to Harinvest brokerage and rescinded its license after clients found out their money had disappeared. Several employees were barred from trading on the capital market.

CV Misu Negritoiu

September 2012 – April 2014 chairman, ING Bank Romania
January 2010 – September 2012 CEO, ING Bank Romania
August 2006 – January 2010 general manager, ING Wholesale Banking Romania
1996 – 1997 MP
1994 – 1996 chief economic adviser to President Ion Iliescu
1973 – 1978 economist ILEXIM, Foreign Trade Company

ASF Council

Misu Negritoiu – president
Daniel Daianu – first vice president
Mircea Ursache – vice president
Corneliu Moldoveanu – vice president
Ion Giurescu – vice president
Gheorghe Marcu – non-executive member
Albin Biro – non-executive member
Marian Sarbu – non-executive member
Victor Ciorbea – non-executive member

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