Romanian Parliament fires financial regulator’s president

Romania’s Parliament dismissed yesterday Misu Negritoiu, the president of the Financial Supervisory Authority (ASF). All the votes were in favor of firing Negritoiu, without any against the proposal. On Wednesday, Negritoiu said that he hadn’t been told what were the reasons behind his dismissal. “I prefer to leave sacked by politicians than by the National Anticorruption Directorate,” he added. However, he also said that he would not leave his office and will fight the decision in court if the Parliament voted in favor of his removal. Before the vote, he was also certain the Parliament would not dismiss him. At the end of April, Social Democrat leader Liviu Dragnea said that Misu Negritoiu needed to be fired as soon as possible. He argued that ASF is an important institution that shouldn’t be run as if it were someone’s “estate”. Misu Negritoiu, former head of ING Bank Romania, became ASF president in April 2014, with the support of the Social Democratic Party (PSD). Last year, at the end of October, four committees within the Senate and the Chamber of Deputies unanimously voted for his dismissal. The MPs considered him responsible for the 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 believed that Negritoiu was responsible for the bankruptcy of two big local insurance companies, Astra Asigurari and Carpatica Asig. editor@romania-insider.com