On the 15th of May, the National Assembly elected Denitsa Velichkova as Deputy Chair of the Investment Supervision Division, Diana Yordanova as Deputy Chair of the Social Insurance Supervision Division and Plamen Danailov as Deputy Chair of the Insurance Supervision Division.
From the parliamentary rostrum, the Chairman of the Financial Supervision Commission, Mr. Vasil Golemanski, presented the candidates for Deputy Chairpersons, highlighting their years of extensive professional experience within the structures of the state administration and the financial sector. He emphasized their readiness for open and constructive dialogue. In accordance with the selection procedure, they were also presented by him on April 29th to the Budget and Finance Committee, which listened to their concepts for the development of the three supervising sectors and their views on their future responsibilities.
Regarding the supervision of investment activity, Ms.Velichkova outlined three main areas – regulatory activity and control, increasing investor confidence in the capital market in Bulgaria and increasing financial literacy in order to ensure sustainable and transparent development of the financial sector; “I believe that the main directions for the development of the Bulgarian financial market are related to increasing liquidity, ensuring the possibility of financing new companies through the capital market, accelerating the growth of the economy in the medium term and improving the image of Bulgaria on the international map of regulators in the non-banking financial sector, and, of course, as an extremely important priority, better positioning of Bulgaria on the “investment map of Europe”. My key messages to the investment community are dialogue, interaction, partnership, because I believe that regulatory activity is not an end in itself, but a two-way process of building trust and a predictable environment for business. I want to stress that the most important end result is to improve Bulgaria’s image as a place for good investments.”
Furthermore, she elaborated her concept with synchronising regulatory frameworks with European standards, creating the necessary conditions to facilitate retail investor’s access to investments in government securities, reducing administrative and regulatory burdens, introducing digital solutions, rigorously enforcing key components of ESG policies and fostering a better investment culture over the long term by introducing specialised education in educational institutions.
For the development of the Social Insurance Supervision Division, Ms. Yordanova will follow and defend the maintenance of beneficial and constructive dialogue based on professionally substantiated convictions; active cooperation with the legislative and executive authorities, industry organizations, sector representatives and social partners; participation in initiatives to increase financial awareness among the public and consumer satisfaction. She confidently stated that “social responsibility, high professionalism and committed partnership are the guarantees for clear and durable regulatory framework that contributes to the sustainable development of the pension system in Bulgaria, respectively an indisputably necessary mechanism for ensuring the adequacy and stability of public finances”. She specified that from now on she will impose a standard for conducting a predictable and consistent regulatory and supervisory policy, “the consequences of which are stability and trust in the supplementary pension insurance sector – a sector of the highest public importance.” It became clear from her presentation that the dynamics in the development of capital markets and the possibilities for diversification of savings of people of working age increasingly require providing consumers of pension insurance services and products with a choice between different investment strategies, taking into account their life cycle and risk tolerance: “By creating funds with different investment profiles and improving incentives for investment management, including reducing fees and deductions, better results are achievable. This conclusion is indisputable and is based on the data published annually by the OECD. From a supervisory standpoint, guaranteeing the funds of insured individuals, including in unfavorable economic conditions and the effective distribution of biometric risk in relation to those receiving payments is of particularly high priority.”
Regarding insurance supervision, Mr. Danailov shared that his strategic priorities are related to the creation of a predictable and transparent legislative initiative, support for innovation and new products, focus on consumer protection, a stable and financially sustainable insurance market, “which can respond to the challenges we are facing.” He stated that he would work on the digitalization of the sector, from the perspective of the development of online insurance, the creation of digital platforms and mobile applications, the use of the possibilities of artificial intelligence to reduce the administrative burden, because “the sector requires modern regulatory solutions, predictability and consistency in actions, in view of the entire dynamics of the economy and society.”
During his presentation, he touched upon the topics of the “bonus-malus” system, the “green card”, double auditing of insurance companies, climate change, the adoption of European directives, compliance with ESG standards and the principles of good corporate governance, their impact on insurance activity, digital risks from the perspective of cyber insurance, as well as raising financial literacy in all the directions described above. For the management of insurance supervision, he said: “The insurance sector is a highly specific and interesting area because, by its very nature, it embodies a promise of compensation when certain adverse events occur that no one wants to occur. This promise involves a great deal of trust, which means effective and well-functioning supervision. The main function of supervision is to protect the interests of users, of people who have policies, whether individuals or legal entities, to monitor the financial soundness, transparency and efficiency of insurance and reinsurance companies, but the main focus is on the users of these services.”
After the vote, Mrs. Velichkova, Mrs.Yordanova and Mr. Danailov swore an oath in Parliament and thanked the members of the Parliament from the tribune for the vote of confidence.
You can see full FSC Board here.
