Banking and financial conglomerates unit
This Unit is responsible for designing and implementing the regulatory framework for banking and financial conglomerates. Because of that, the Head of this Unit is the European Commission's representative at the Basel Committee for Banking Supervision.
Mario NAVA – Head of Unit
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Mario Nava (born Milan, 1966) holds a first degree in economics from Bocconi University (1989), an MA from the Université Catholique de Louvain, Belgium (1992) and a PhD in public finance from the London School of Economics (1996). Before his current post, he was:
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Prior to that, he worked for the Commission’s budget department (1996 – 2000) and its taxation department (1994 – 96). Alongside his work at the Commission he is active in research and teaching – visiting professor at Milan’s Bocconi University since 1998, a member of the economics faculty of ISPI, Milan (where Italian diplomats are trained) and occasional lecturer in many universities across Europe. From 1995 to 1999 he was visiting professor at the Universidad de Belgrano (Buenos Aires) and the Universidad de Cuyo (Mendoza). From 1993 to 1994 he was junior professor at the London School of Economics and visiting professor at the State University of Moscow and St. Petersburg (Russia). |
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Dominique THIENPONT – Deputy Head of Unit
Dominique Thienpont holds a degree in law from the Université Catholique de Louvain - Belgium (1988), a degree in business administration from the Université Catholique de Louvain - Belgium (1989) and a MBA from the Cornell University - USA (1990).
He joined the Banking Unit in May 2010.
Before his current post, he has been working in:
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the Insurance and Pensions Unit (February 2005 to May 2010), where he played a leading role in the development and implementation of the Solvency II project;
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the Company law, Corporate Governance, Accounting and Auditing Unit (September 1999 to February 2005), where he played a key role in the development and implementation of the Commission Company Law and Corporate Governance Action Plan.
Before he joined the Commission, he has been working for one of the leading Audit firms (1992–1999), where he focused on various types of clients belonging to the financial sector and obtained the title of Statutory Auditor under the Belgian system.
Hywel DAWES
Hywel Dawes works for the European Commission as a Seconded National Expert in the area of banking regulation. He is seconded from the UK Financial Services Authority (FSA). Before he joined the Commission services in 2009, he had worked in the Prudential Risk Division of the FSA.
Roxana GHEORGHIU
Roxana joined the banking unit in early 2011, where she mainly deals with infringements, transpositions, complaints and comitology. She studied law at the University of Bucharest (2005) and her academic background includes a second university degree in law from the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (2007) and an LLM degree from the College of Europe, Bruges (2010). Before joining the Commission, she qualified as a trainee lawyer with the Bucharest Bar, she worked as a junior lawyer for a British law firm in Barcelona and she completed a traineeship within the Commission.
Sebastijan HROVATIN
Sebastijan Hrovatin holds a first degree in economics from the University of Ljubljana (1999) and an MSc in Finance and Economics from the London School of Economics and Political Science (2000). He joined the European Commission on 1st September 2005, specifically the “Financial Market Infrastructure” Unit. There he was involved in several work streams dealing with the elimination of the Giovannini barriers, he followed the TARGET2-Securities initiative and was closely involved in the preparation of the two Commission Communications on OTC derivatives and the related Commission proposal on a Regulation on OTC derivatives, central counterparties and trade repositories. He joined the "Banking and Financial Conglomerates" Unit on 18th October 2010. Prior to joining the Unit he worked for four years at Fiat (Italy), first as an economist and then as chief economist.
François-Xavier LE BRAS
François-Xavier Le Bras was seconded by the Banque de France to the European Commission in September 2011. As a national expert in the banking Unit, he contributes to the elaboration and monitoring of the EU policies in the area of banking regulation.
Prior to joining the Commission services, he worked eight years in the prudential supervision areas first at the French prudential supervisory authority (Autorité de contrôle prudentiel), then at the French Treasury as a seconded expert from the Banque de France. He is a graduate of the University of Paris Dauphine.
Mattias LEVIN
Mattias Levin works at the Banking and Financial Conglomerates unit of the European Commission's Internal Market and services DG, where he is dealing with crisis management, financial conglomerates and systemically important financial institutions. His He previously worked in the Financial Markets Infrastructure unit. Before joining DG MARKT, he was a member of the Bureau of European Policy Advisers (BEPA), a think tank attached to the President of the European Commission. Prior to joining the Commission, Mattias was a Research Fellow at the Centre for European Policy Studies (CEPS) where he focused on financial regulation, capital markets and international taxation. Mattias studied at the London School of Economics, Lund University and the Institut d'Etudes Politiques of Strasbourg.
Audrius PRANCKEVICIUS
Audrius Pranckevicius joined the Banking and Financial Conglomerates Unit in March 2008 after spending nearly three years at the Impact Assessment, Evaluation and Economic Analysis Unit of DG MARKT. Prior to joining the Commission, Audrius worked in the area of financial analysis for several blue chip companies in Canada. He holds an MA in International Economics and Finance from Brandeis University in the US and a BA in Business Administration from Vytautas Magnus University in Lithuania and is also a CFA charterholder.
Přemysl ŠPICAR
Přemysl Špicar recently joined the the banking Unit in 2011, working as a lawyer.
Kai SPITZER
Kai Gereon Spitzer works for the European Commission in the area of banking regulation. Before he joined the Commission services in 2006, he worked in the Banking Law and International Supervision division of Deutsche Bundesbank, as a Prudential Supervision Expert with the European Central Bank and in Corporate Finance Advisory with a major professional services firm. He holds a MSc degree in economics.
Andreas STROHM
Andreas Strohm has worked in the banking unit since 2008. He is responsible for capital buffers, pro-cyclicality and macro-prudential supervision. Andreas Strohm joined several working groups of the Basel Committee and represents the Commission at the EBC Banking Supervisory Committee and the Advisory Committee of the European Systemic Risk Board. He joined the Commission in 1991 as speechwriter and Cabinet Member of the Vice President Martin Bangemann (until 1999). From 2000 – 2008 he worked with DG Competition (Merger Task Force; Chief Economist Team).
Michael THOM
Michael Thom joined the banking unit at the end of 2011. His main focus will be on liquidity issues.
Mike has over 25 years of broad-ranging experience as a Commission official (covering competition policy, merger control and financial services). After joining DG Internal Market in 1996, he negotiated Solvency I and led the technical team developing Solvency II. In 2005 he joined the Payments Unit and led the team which negotiated the Payment Services Directive. He also played a major role in the recent adoption of the SEPA Regulation. Michael holds an Honours Mathematics degree (Cambridge), a MBA in Finance and Economics (KUL-Belgium) and originally qualified as a Fellow of the Institute of Actuaries.
Erik VAN DER PLAATS
Erik van der Plaats has been working in the banking Unit since 2008. His main focus is on bank accounting.
Erik was seconded for two years as a Senior Financial Management Specialist with the World Bank from 2006 till 2008 where he worked on private sector financial reporting in Europe and the Central Asia Region. From 1995 to 2006 Erik worked at the European Commission mainly on financial reporting and audit policy making at DG Internal Market. Prior to joining the European Commission, Erik worked for six years as an independent consultant on financial management and 3 years as an external auditor.
Erik holds a master’s degree in business economics from the Free University of Amsterdam and qualified as a registered auditor (RA) with Royal NIVRA of the Netherlands.
Linda VAN GOOR
Linda van Goor was seconded by De Nederlandsche Bank (DNB) to the European Commission on 1 January 2008. As a National Expert in DG Internal Market, unit Banking & Financial Conglomerates, she deals with the review of the Financial Conglomerates Directive.
Before 2008, she was dedicated to group supervision in general and conglomerates supervision in particular as a senior advisor at DNB. She would assist the necessary international supervisory coordination in that area and the establishment of the Interim Working Committee on Financial Conglomerates.
Until 2004, she participated in the Basel II debate as a lobbyist for Dutch bankers. She started her career in 1991 as an assistant professor in corporate finance and obtained a PhD in financial history. She lives in Brussels with her husband and two children.
