CNVM breaks piggy bank to pay salaries

The National Securities Commission (CNVM), the capital market’s ruling and supervisory authority, has used a large part of the almost 25m-RON surplus it hoarded in the years before the crisis to cover its current expenditures and salary payments in 2009 and 2008. Over the past two years, the capital market arbiter has spent around 22m RON (5.5m euros) of the 25m RON surplus piled up in 2005, 2006 and 2007, peak years for the Bucharest Stock Exchange. Both in 2008 and 2009, the Commission’s revenues were below expenses, on the diminished activity on the capital market and on the tax and fee cuts that dragged revenues down. In 2009, the Commission’s reserves registered the steepest depreciation, of around 14m RON, with the amount reported at the end of 2009 standing at 2.7m RON, according to the 2009 annual activity report. “(…) The accumulated reserves had been originally earmarked for investments, but also for crisis periods,” said Paul Miclaus, vice-president of the Commission.