Armenia’s financial institutions should recruit employees from Diaspora

October 19, 2010 - 16:18 AMT

PanARMENIAN.Net - Vice Chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) Vache Gabrielyan said that the most successful experience of corporate governance in Armenia is in the financial system.

Referring to usage of professional potential of representatives of Diaspora in the process of Armenian financial institutions governance, Gabrielyan told the first all-Armenian conference of financiers and bankers in Yerevan that independent directors’ task plays a significant role in corporate governance.

“The task of an independent director in Armenia can be best conceived by an experienced financier from Diaspora, who had worked in transnational companies and is well aware of bank finances management, as well as of Armenia and conceives the essence of our society and can find the best variant of international standards to apply them towards Armenia,” said Gabrielyan.

He believes that Armenia’s financial structures should be ready to recruit these people. At the same time, in his opinion, the Armenian legislation plays a special role in corporate management. “But it is not enough for attraction of a great number of independent directors. Many Armenian banks cannot afford paying the same amount to an independent director, which he would receive for the same job abroad. There are many representatives of Diaspora who are ready to apply their knowledge and skills in the Armenian banking system, but they also have some questions. Over 75% of Armenian banks’ capital is foreign, with the same situation in the insurance market. The matter is that if it is a transnational corporation, then why a representative of Diaspora should apply efforts and conduct a thorough analysis for a lower salary, when he can do the same job for a transnational company abroad,” he said.