The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) has selected Carlos Montalvo to become its first executive director.

Montalvo will serve a term of five years in the role, renewable once. The executive director is an independent representative who presides over the day-to-day management of EIOPA.

The appointment remains subject to confirmation by the European Parliament.

Currently serving as acting secretary general of EIOPA, Montalvo has been secretary general of the Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors since November 2007. Previously he was an insurance supervisor for the Dirección General de Seguros y Pensiones, the Spanish insurance and pensions supervisory authority.

Montalvo said he was grateful that the board of supervisors had decided to put him in charge of EIOPA’s management.

“Together with our chairman, Gabriel Bernardino, I will work hard to build EIOPA as a European independent and transparent supervisory authority. Independence and transparency are not only defined in EIOPA’s regulation but also necessary conditions to meet our mandate on behalf of Europe’s citizens,” he said.

The confirmation of the executive director completes the top management of EIOPA. In January, the board of supervisors of EIOPA selected Gabriel Bernardino as first chairman and Victor Rod as vice-chairman. Bernardino’s appointment was confirmed by the European Parliament in February and he will take office on 1 March, 2011.

EIOPA was established as a result of reforms to the structure of financial supervision in the European Union initiated by the European Commission.

The Frankfurt-based authority is an independent advisory body to the European Parliament, the Council of the European Union and the European Commission. It was established on 1 January 2011.

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