CNB enters 2017 with organisational changes

Organisational changes pertaining to economic research, international activities and human resources will take place at the Czech National Bank at the start of 2017.

The CNB has decided to strengthen its economic research, and the Economic Research Department will be incorporated into the Monetary Department and the Financial Stability Department as from 1 January 2017. This is being done as part of a reorganisation of economic research at the CNB aimed at strengthening the link between research work and the central bank’s core activities while maintaining the professional quality of CNB research publications. The CNB Bank Board approved this change at its meeting on 10 November. “Our main goal is to strengthen research and to bring researchers as close as possible to the bank’s core activities: monetary policy and financial stability. We want to get our research, which is already of very high quality, to a higher level even on the international scale,” said Vice-Governor Mojmír Hampl. The new arrangement will strengthen the managerial elements of research organisation and help research respond more flexibly to new research priorities. The new organisational set-up will enable mobility of employees between research work and analytical activities supporting the bank’s main activities. The Monetary Department, which will include a new Economic Research Division, will take over economic research in the field of monetary policy. On 22 December, the Bank Board appointed Jan Brůha as Director of the new Division. Research focused on supporting financial stability will be taken over by the Financial Stability Department, where staffing will be bolstered.

On 1 January 2017, the EU and International Organisations Division will be transferred from the General Secretariat to the Financial Market Regulation and International Cooperation Department in order to unify the coordination of the CNB’s international activities in a single unit. The Bank Board took this decision on 24 November and then on 8 December appointed Vojtěch Belling as Deputy Executive Director of the Financial Market Regulation and International Cooperation Department in charge of the EU and International Organisations Division.

In addition, the CNB Bank Board decided on 1 December to merge the Human Resources Department with the General Secretariat. With effect from 1 February 2017, most of the activities carried out until now by the Human Resources Department will be transferred to a new Human Resources Division in the General Secretariat. The division will be headed by Vilém Čermák, whom the Bank Board also appointed as Deputy Executive Director of the General Secretariat.

Jan Brůha, Ph.D. (40) completed his postgraduate studies in econometrics at the University of Economics in Prague and in economic theory at the Centre for Economic Research and Graduate Education (CERGE) at Charles University. He joined the CNB in 2005 as an economist in the External Economic Relations Division and then worked in the Macroeconomic Forecasting Division of the Monetary and Statistics Department. From 2015 he worked as economic research coordinator and adviser to the Bank Board in the Economic Research Department.

Vojtěch Belling, Ph.D. (35) graduated from the Faculty of Law, the Faculty of Arts and the Faculty of Social Sciences of Charles University. He received his Ph.D. at the Faculty of Social Sciences of Charles University and in 2016 qualified as an associate professor at the Masaryk University in Brno. He lectured at the Faculty of Law of Charles University, Ruperto Carola University in Heidelberg and Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem, among others. From 2002 he worked as a civil servant at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, and in 2009–2014 at the Office of the Government, where he held the posts of Director of the EU Policies Coordination Department and in 2011–2014 State Secretary for European Affairs. He joined the CNB in 2014, when he became Director of the EU and International Organisations Division.

Vilém Čermák (44) graduated from the Faculty of Arts of Charles University. He has worked at the CNB since 2001, initially as a chief methodologist for crisis management and classified information protection. In March 2002 he became Deputy Executive Director of the Crisis Management and Classified Information Protection Department and in January 2007 he was put in charge of the Analyses and Planning Unit. From July 2007 to December 2008 he carried out the duties of the CNB’s security director and headed the Crisis Management and Classified Information Protection Department. Following the integration of the Crisis Management and Classified Information Protection Department, he held the post of Director of the Bank Security and Crisis Management Division of the CNB Administrative Department. In February 2011 he was made Director of the Personnel Division of the Human Resources Department. From April 2013 he held the post of Deputy Executive Director of the Human Resources Department in charge of the Personnel Division. In August 2016 the Bank Board entrusted him with managing the Human Resources Department. With effect from February 2017 he became Deputy Executive Director of the General Secretariat in charge of the Human Resources Division.

Marek Zeman
Director, CNB Communications Division