The appointed director of the Bank of Portugal (BdP) Rui Miguel Correia Pinto today justified the monthly salary of 15 thousand euros that he will receive with the “assumed responsibility” and the need to attract the “suitable people” to the regulator.
“The supervisor – the BdP, the CMVM [Comissão do Mercado de Valores Mobiliários]the ASF [Autoridade de Supervisão de Seguros e Fundos de Pensões] – is part of what the economic scenario is and what society is and therefore these aspects can be discussed, but we need to make sure there is a capacity to attract the right people and who are in the market,” said Rui Miguel Correia Pinto in parliament.
The official spoke at a hearing in the Budget and Finance Committee of the Assembly of the Republic in the context of his appointment to the post of administrator of the Board of Directors of the BdP, on whose opinion his appointment by the Council of Ministers depends .
In response to the Chega deputy Pedro Frazão, who questioned him about what his “conscience” told him about the “social justice” of the monthly allowance of 15 thousand euros he will earn in the BdP – and whose deputy emphasized that it was higher than that of the President of the Republic or the President of the US Federal Reserve and 53 times more than the minimum pension and 21 times more than the national minimum wage – Rui Miguel Correia Pinto said he had no “moods” on the matter .
“I have no frame of mind in this regard,” he claimed, stressing that “there must be a parity of what the market value is in what is the hiring, remuneration and attraction of the people ahead of supervision” and that “it is important is that the responsibility taken up in the functions satisfies the conditions set”.
As regards the rotation of personnel between the different supervisory entities, namely the BdP, the administrator appointed at the central bank devalued.
“I don’t see this issue as a problem. What is relevant and important is to ensure that the people are adequate and that the people taking on these positions have technical competence and experience and that they meet the requirements of suitability he said, noting that “the BdP is a natural exporter of talent and people with these capabilities”.
According to him, “given the designations of the names for the BdP, for the CMVM and for the ASF itself, there is not such a predominance of elements of Banco de Portugal”.
“I believe that when people meet the requirements, it is no longer so relevant where they come from unless there is a conflict of interest. What matters is how people then exercise their functions in a committed and independent manner. ” concluded.
Source: DN
