CB appoints Simanovsky first deputy chairman in charge of oversight
MOSCOW. Sept 9 (Interfax) - The Central Bank of Russia has appointed bank regulation and oversight director Alexei Simanovsky to the post of first deputy chairman in charge of bank oversight.
"The order to appoint Simanovsky was signed September 9 and it comes into effect on September 12," a CB source told Interfax. Simanovsky's duties were not written down in the order, but it has emerged that he will full the post vacated on September 9 by Gennady Melikian.
Simanovsky, 56, had been head of the Central Bank's oversight department since 1996 and a CB director since January 2007.
Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin, who heads the National Banking Council, said on Friday that a candidate to replace Melikian had been selected. "The nomination has now been prepared. The Central Bank intends to submit it, and it will be considered according to the prescribed procedure," Kudrin told reporters.
Some observers saw two Central Bank department heads - bank licensing and financial recovery director Mikhail Sukhov and Alexei Simanovsky - as possible candidates for the post.
Business daily Vedomosti reported on Friday that Simanovsky would be named deputy chairman for oversight and head of the bank oversight committee. Central Bank chief Sergei Ignatyev has not yet proposed Simanovsky's candidacy, but it is now being considered, the paper said, citing a source at the National Banking Council. Kudrin approves of this choice, the source said.
Some bankers surveyed by the paper said the appointment of Simanovsky would not improve the situation in the area of bank oversight and that "new blood" is needed in this area, while others said it is important to have continuity in oversight.
However, Kommersant cited sources as saying that Sukhov tops the list of candidates for first deputy chairman. "This choice is in favour of Mikhail Sukhov. Its announcement is a matter of time and administrative procedures," the paper quoted one source as saying.
"As far as I know, Sukhov remains the only candidate, and essentially the choice to succeed Gennady Melikian. The issue has been decided," Kommersant reported a source close to the Finance Ministry as saying. He also said he had heard that Sukhov might hold the post of deputy chairman.