Spaniard's selection means continuity at CEIOPS

Carlos Montalvo has been selected as the first head of Europe’s new insurance super-regulator.

The European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Authority (EIOPA) announced today that its board of supervisors has elected Montalvo as its executive director.

The nomination of 38 year old Montalvo, who has been secretary general of CEIOPS, (the Committee of European Insurance and Occupational Pensions Supervisors) since September 2007, has already been approved by the European Commission and is subject to confirmation by the European Parliament.

His selection, which follows the appointment of former CEIOPS chair Gabriel Bernardino as EIOPA’s first chairman, means that there will be no change in the top team overseeing European insurance regulation.

The executive director presides over the day-to-day management of EIOPA and he will serve a term of five years, which can be renewed once.

Before going to CEIOPS, Montalvo was an insurance supervisor for the Dirección General de Seguros y Pensiones, the Spanish insurance and pensions supervisory authority. There he headed the International Area of the Supervisory Department and coordinated insurance groups and financial conglomerates related issues.

Montalvo said: “I am grateful that EIOPA’s Board of Supervisors decided to put me in charge of EIOPA’s management and hope that the European Parliament will confirm my nomination. 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.”

Click here to read an Insurance Times interview with Carlos Montalvo.