Denial of statement by state secretary at MoF on Tarča (RTV Slovenija)

The Bank of Slovenia categorically denies the statement made by Mr Metod Dragonja, state secretary at the Ministry of Finance, on the Tarča programme on RTV Slovenija on 11 February 2016 in connection with the dismissal of the chairperson of the supervisory board of NLB, Mr Gorazd Podbevšek. Neither the Bank of Slovenia nor the European Central Bank, acting under the powers that they hold in the supervision of the operations of NLB d.d., have ever required the dismissal of Mr Podbevšek from his function as chairperson of the bank’s supervisory board. Neither the Bank of Slovenia nor the European Central Bank have given a negative assessment of Mr Podbevšek, either in terms of his personal attributes in the sense of suitability, or from the perspective of his contribution to the suitability of the supervisory board as a whole, having regard for the knowledge, skills and experience of its members.
The Bank of Slovenia and the European Central Bank have merely suggested in the past that, in light of the complexity of the operations and the circumstances, the number of board members be increased, particularly in the sense of strengthening the supervisory board in terms of banking knowledge.