Financial Stability Department to be elevated in CNB’s organisational structure

The CNB’s Financial Stability Department will be elevated to multi-divisional department status on 1 January 2018. This decision of the CNB Bank Board reflects the increasing importance of financial stability and macroprudential policy in the central bank’s work. The new department will be headed by Jan Frait, current Executive Director of the Financial Stability Department.

Financial stability has become one of the most important duties not only of the CNB, but also of many institutions in other countries, mainly due to the impacts of the financial crisis after 2007. The aim of detecting weak spots in the financial sector and tracing their links to the economy and the financial markets is to increase the resilience of the financial system to shocks and to reduce the risk of instability in that system.

“We need to learn the lessons of the global financial crisis, so we have to pay close attention to preventing financial imbalances from forming in the economy. The Financial Stability Department has experienced major changes over the last five years. This process is being symbolically rounded off with its elevation to multi-divisional department status,” said Governor Jiří Rusnok.

Financial stability is ensured with the help of macroprudential policy, which has been formulated at the international level only in recent years. The macroprudential policy toolkit includes a countercyclical capital buffer, capital buffers for systemically important banks and mortgage-lending recommendations for banks.

The CNB’s new department will comprise two divisions – a Macroprudential Policy Division and a Macroprudential Analyses Division. Libor Holub will become Deputy Director of the Financial Stability Department and will head the Macroprudential Policy Division. Zlatuše Komárková will become Director of the Macroprudential Analyses Division. The department will also include a financial research unit headed, as at present, by Simona Malovaná. Vice-Governor Vladimír Tomšík will continue to oversee the department.

In addition to the smooth exit from exchange rate commitment, the CNB’s financial stability policy was mentioned by Global Markets as a factor in its decision to name CNB Governor Jiří Rusnok Central Bank Governor of the Year, Central and Eastern Europe 2017.

Jan Frait graduated from the Faculty of Economics at VŠB-Tu in Ostrava, where he received his doctorate in 1995. He was named Young Economist of the Year by the Czech Economic Society in the same year. He qualified in economics in 1998 and was appointed professor in 2002. He was President of the Czech Economics Society between 2001 and 2004. He has been working at the CNB since 2000, when he was appointed Bank Board member for a six-year term. He was also a member of the OECD’s Economic Policy Committee in 2005–2006. Since 2007, he has been responsible for financial market analyses and is currently Executive Director of the Financial Stability Department. Jan Frait also represents the CNB in the Advisory Technical Committee of the European System Risk Board.

Libor Holub graduated in finance from the University of Economics in Prague. After graduating he worked in a series of companies between 1986 and 2005 in positions relating to financial management. He worked in managerial positions at Volksbank CZ in 2005–2013. He joined the Czech National Bank in January 2017. He worked initially in the Financial Market Supervision Department. In October 2014, he became head of the macroprudential policy unit and Deputy Director of the Financial Stability Department.

Zlatuše Komárková graduated from the Faculty of Economics at VŠB-TU in Ostrava and completed her doctoral studies at the University of Economics in Prague. She joined the CNB in 2006. She worked initially in the Economic Research and Financial Stability Division of the Capital Market Regulation and Supervision Department. In 2010, she joined the Financial Stability Department, where she became head of the systemic risk unit in January 2016. She has authored numerous papers, mostly on macroprudential policy and financial integration of markets. She is also active in the academic community.

Marek Zeman
Director, CNB Communications Division