Georgia’s Parliament approves four inaugural Banking Supervisory Agency board members

Parliament of Georgia has approved four board members of the newly established Banking Supervisory Agency today, which was established since lawmakers voted to deprive the National Bank of Georgia (NBG) of its supervisory rights to financial institutions in Georgia.

The Government named Eprem Urumashvili, Irakli Kovzanadze, Ekaterine Galdava and Sasha Ternes as Agency board members, while the fifth person to fill the remaining vacancy will be named later, stated a Parliament press release.

Kovzanadze, Galdava and Ternes were confirmed as board members for a seven-year term and Urumashvili for five-year term.

According to Georgian law, the Government can nominate five out of seven board members. The two other seats will be held by president of the NBG and one more member of NBG’s board.

Later today Irakli Kovzanadze, who served as a chairperson of the Partnership Fund of Georgia, was confirmed as the head of the Agency board by Parliament. 

After confirming the candidates, Georgia’s Parliament Speaker David Usupashvili said much was expected of the new Agency. 

[It] should successfully continue the reforms launched by the NBG [and] we are looking to the Agency with hope,” Usupashvili said. 

The controversial NBG Bill that envisaged separation of the supervisory functions from the bank was initiated by majority members and confirmed by Parliament in July 2015. 

Since gaining criticism from non-governmental organisations and the opposition, President Giorgi Margvelashvili vetoed the bill, saying that it would have threatened NBG’s independence. 

However on September 3 Parliament’s majority members overrode the Presidential veto.