Estonian president appoints Madis Muller new cbank governor

TALLINN – President Kersti Kaljulaid on Friday appointed Madis Muller, current deputy governor of the Bank of Estonia, as the central bank's new governor. 

The supervisory board of the Bank of Estonia by a secret vote on Feb. 12 chose Muller as candidate for the next governor of the central bank from a pool of three nominees that also included head of Swedbank Estonia Robert Kitt and deputy secretary general of the Ministry of Finance Marten Ross.   

The candidate for the governor of the central bank must next pass security vetting by the Internal Security Service. Muller already holds the state secret access authorization corresponding with the job position and no additional security check had to be carried out regarding him.

The supervisory board on March 26 made a formal proposal to the president to appoint Muller new governor of the central bank. 

Muller, born in 1977, became deputy governor of the Bank of Estonia in 2011, coming from the position of portfolio manager for equity investments at International Finance Corporation (IFC), in which position he served from 2006 to 2011, the president's office said.

From 2003-2006, Muller served as adviser and senior adviser to the executive director of the Nordic-Baltic constituency of the World Bank, from 2002-2003 as adviser on economics to the prime minister of the Republic of Estonia, from 1999-2002 as adviser on economics to the minister at the Ministry of Finance of the Republic of Estonia, and from 1998-1999 as consultant on corporate financing at PricewaterhouseCoopers Tallinn.

Since 2011, Muller has served as representative of the Estonian central bank in various international forums, including the Economic and Financial Committee of the Council of the European Union, the High Level Group on Market Infrastructures of the European Central Bank, the Euro Payments Council, the Nordic-Baltic Monetary and Financial Committee at the IMF, and others. Since 2014, he has been a member of the supervisory board of the European Central Bank for SSM/Banking Supervision and a member of the supervisory board of the Guarantee Fund. He has been a member of the of the supervisory board of the Financial Supervision Authority since 2012. 

Muller earned his bachelor's degree from Estonian Business School in 1999 and a master's degree in finance from George Washington University in 2006. He holds a CFA (Chartered Financial Analyst) license from CFA Institute and an FRM (Financial Risk Manager) license from the Global Association of Risk Professionals.

The term of office of the current governor of the Bank of Estonia, Ardo Hansson, expires on June 6 this year. The governor of the central bank is appointed to office by the president for a single seven-year term.