Former Russian Finance Minister Alexei Kudrin denied late on Monday having received an offer to become Russia’s new financial “mega-regulator,” after earlier reports said he had been tipped for the post.
“As far as I know, these ideas are only being worked on, and no final decision has been taken. Discussions about the future mega-regulator are underway, and while a final position has not been worked out, it’s too early to say,” he said. “I have received no such offer [to become regulator],” he said.
Earlier on Monday, Kudrin was reported as saying he had “received the offer but I’m not ready so far to discuss it in detail.”
First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov instructed the government’s economic ministries and departments in August to submit proposals on improving regulation of the domestic banking system and financial markets.
One of the government’s options is a merger of the Central Bank, responsible for monetary policy, and the Federal Financial Markets Services, which oversees professional financial market participants, into a single mega-regulator.
Kudrin said he had discussed taking up the post of Central Bank chairman a year ago after he was sacked as Finance Minister and Deputy Prime Minister following a row with the then-outgoing President and current Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev over budget issues, including rising defense spending.
“They offered me that job in the fall and I turned it down. I haven’t had any new offers,” he added.
Kudrin made a partial return to national politics in April with the formal establishment of his Civil Initiatives Fund, an advisory body on political and economic issues under President Putin.
President Vladimir Putin said on October 2 that the question of setting up a mega-regulator post should be considered urgently.