Romanian MPs want to dismiss the Financial Supervisory Authority president

Four committees within the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies unanimously voted for the dismissal of Misu Negritoiu, the president of the Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF), the institution in charge of regulating and supervising the insurance sector, capital market, and private pension funds in Romania. MP Mihai Tudose, president of the Chamber of Deputies’ Economic Committee, announced the start of the actual dismissal procedure, reports local Profit.ro. The proposal needs to be voted by the Parliament chambers, and the vote will most probably take place next week, according to Tudose. Negritoiu might not receive the eight-month severance payments provided for in the collective labor contract, according to Tudose. He has a salary of EUR 13,000 per month and should get EUR 108,000 if he is dismissed, according to liberal MP Andreea Paul. However, the MPs want to dismiss Negritoiu without paying him any compensations saying that he has done a poor job as head of ASF. They consider him responsible for the current problems in the insurance sector, where the Government had to step in and freeze the mandatory car insurance tariffs for six months, after high increases in recent years. Moreover, the MPs think that Negritoiu is responsible for the bankruptcy of two big local insurance companies, Astra Asigurari and Carpatica Asig. Negritoiu didn’t take part at the Parliament’s committees’ meeting yesterday, but sent a letter arguing that his dismissal was illegal. A former CEO of ING Bank Romania, Misu Negritoiu has been leading the financial regulator ASF since April 1, 2014. editor@romania-insider.com