On Dec 14th, 2011 the Bulgarian Financial Supervision Commission held a major international conference on “Development Outlook of the Non-banking financial sector”. The event was to present the new European policy in the financial sector and to stimulate discussion about the situation of the Bulgarian capital market and its future development.
The event was opened by Mr. Boyko Borisov, Prime Minister of Bulgaria. This gave a clear and strong signal to the business for the efforts that the Bulgarian government is making to overcome the effects of the global crisis in the non-banking financial sector and confirmed the priority of the country for full integration into the European structures. In his speech, the Prime Minister stressed that the European Union is on the verge of making extremely important decisions for its future development many of which are related to financial security and stability of financial markets. In this situation, the role of authorities dealing with supervision of the financial sector is crucial. In times of financial crisis, state institutions are urged to reinforce people’s confidence in the stability of markets in order to ensure their proper functioning and integrity. The Prime Minister also noted that the Financial Supervision Commission proved that it has the capacity to cope with the challenges of the crisis as a result of the FSC Chairman’s personal efforts and the efforts of the institution.
In his turn, Mr. Stoyan Mavrodiev, Chairman of the FSC said that the financial crisis has impacted heavily on the global financial markets. This requires immediate action to overcome the consequences and to stabilize the financial markets nationwide. As part of the European financial regulators FSC supports the actions of the European Commission and together with the regulatory authorities of other member states is interested in seeking solutions and creating policies for effective oversight of the financial system. FSC is to promote these steps more stable, transparent, predictable and accountable to the public, investors and consumers.
A special guest speaker to the conference was Mr. Steven Maijoor – President of the European Securities and Markets Authority. He gave strong support for the Financial Supervision Commission. On Dec 13th a discussion meeting with representatives of the non-banking financial sector in Bulgaria was held. Mr. Maijoor presented immediate tasks and priorities of ESMA. Moreover, he answered many questions from interested parties regarding how the European supervisor authority interacts with the investment community.
Marcus Repnik, Permanent Representative of the World Bank for Bulgaria, the Czech Republic and Slovakia stated that the government regulators play a key role in shaping the capital markets. “The challenge now is to develop a regional capital market, which exceeds national borders”, said Mr. Repnik. In his view, this will allow better investment opportunities. According to him financial services and products are becoming more sophisticated and complex, and consumers need clear rules, effective supervision and responsibility.
After the capital market session, the conference “Development outlook of the non-banking financial sector” was divided into two discussion panels. Mr. Angel Dzhalazov – Vice-Chairman of the FSC chaired the pension insurance session on profitability of the pension funds in a financial crisis condition and perspectives for introduction of multifunds in Eastern European countries. Ms. Antonia Gineva – Member of the Board moderated the financial consumer protection and financial education module.
Additional information including videos from the conference is uploaded on the following link:
http://www.worldbank.bg/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/ECAEXT/BULGARIAEXTN/0,,contentMDK:23069105~menuPK:305444~pagePK:2865066~piPK:2865079~theSitePK:305439,00.html