Four hours into the Governing Board session, governor not appointed; Serbs seek filling of the Deposit Insurance Agency Board

(patria) - The session of the Governing Board of the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina (CBBiH) began at 12:00, but by 16:00 a new governor of the Central Bank, who will succeed the current governor Senad Softić, has not yet been elected.

What is certain so far is that the governor will come from the Bosniak ranks, meaning the head of the bank will be either Mirza Kršo or Jasmina Selimović.

The two were appointed to the CBBiH Governing Board on the proposal of Denis Bećirović, and although the public believed the process was non-transparent and that Selimović had a conflict of interest because she is also a member of the Supervisory Board of Raiffeisen Bank, while Kršo holds a political position (advisor to Bećirović), no delay occurred in the appointment process.

According to information from Patria, the problem arose because members of the Governing Board from the Serb ranks are demanding the appointment of a member of the Board of the Deposit Insurance Agency, as we previously reported.

The Deposit Insurance Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina is managed by a Board of Directors. The Board of Directors consists of five members. In addition to the governor of the Central Bank, the Board of Directors also includes the finance ministers of the entities and the state of BiH, and one member elected by the Governing Board of the Central Bank of BiH.

For three years, one member has been missing because there was no agreement on who it should belong to, more precisely, there was no consensus that it should be someone from the Bosniak ranks, so it was never appointed.

However, according to information from Patria, the coalition at the state level (SNSD, HDZ, and the parties of the troika) appears to have reached an agreement that this seat on the Board of Directors from the Central Bank of BiH should belong to someone from the Serb people.

In practice, this means that out of five members, three will be from the Serb ranks, which will also mean complete control over this important Agency.

Effectively, support for the appointment of the governor is conditioned on filling the Board of Directors of the Deposit Insurance Agency.

Along with Senad Softić, the governor of the Central Bank of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Board of Directors also included Srđan Amidžić, Minister of Finance and Treasury of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Zora Vidović, Minister of Finance of Republika Srpska, and Toni Kraljević, Minister of Finance of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. Therefore, if the missing member comes from the Serb people, it is clear that Milorad Dodik will take control of the Deposit Insurance Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina.