Bulgaria Financial Supervision Commission chief resigns, to take EBRD post
Karina Karaivanova, head of Bulgaria’s Financial Supervision Commission, resigned on February 19 ahead of taking the position as the country’s representative at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) on March 1.
Karaivanova was nominated by the Cabinet to the post in December 2018. A former deputy finance minister, she has been at the helm of the financial services regulator since 2016, when she was appointed by Parliament for a six-year term.
At her exit news conference on February 19, Karaivanova described her truncated term as head of the regulator as a success, but the past 12 months have seen the institution criticised repeatedly.
Last year, the commission came under fire for its slow response in dealing with the bankruptcy of Cyprus-registered insurer Olympic, triggering the resignation of the FSC top official in charge of regulatory oversight of the insurance sector.
Later, the watchdog was harshly criticised for its proposal to revamp the car insurance policies sector by introducing a so-called “bonus-malus” system, which linked insurance premiums to vehicles’ incident history rather than drivers’ track record.
(Karina Karaivanova screengrab from Bulgarian National Television)
