CNB communications to become part of the General Secretariat

With effect from 1 December 2014, the Czech National Bank will incorporate the Communications Department into the General Secretariat. Therefore, its Executive Director Marek Petruš will also become responsible for the central bank’s external and internal communications. Tomáš Zimmermann remains the CNB spokesman. He also remains in charge of the Communications Division in the General Secretariat. The Bank Board decided on these changes at its meeting on 20 November 2014.

CNB General Secretariat, headed by Marek Petruš from 1 July 2014, includes the Bank Board Secretariat, the Legal Services Division and the EU and International Organisations Division. From 1 December 2014, these three divisions will be complemented by the Communications Division. Thus, a single department of the CNB headquarters will become responsible for the coordination of the administrative and legal support of the Bank Board and the central bank’s relationships with the Government, the Parliament, the EU and foreign institutions, as well as communication with the public.

Marek Petruš (41) graduated from the Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism of the Faculty of Social Sciences at Charles University. From 1 May 2009 to 30 June 2014 he held the post of Executive Director of the Communications Department and CNB spokesman. He came to the CNB in 2009 from the Prague office of Egon Zehnder International, which specialises in management consulting. Before that he worked as correspondent for Reuters and Dow Jones Newswires. He is fluent in English and holds the Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English.

Tomáš Zimmermann (43) graduated from the Czech Technical University. Before joining the CNB in 2009 he worked as an economic correspondent for financial markets at the Czech News Agency. From January 2011 he worked as Deputy Executive Director of the Communications Department. He is fluent in English.

CNB Communications Department