Political posts in finance institutions to abuse power: Ameer

The former Finance Minister Ibrahim Ameer has criticized the state's decision to revise the law, which now facilitates the appointment of political designates to the boards of financial institutions.

Ameer said this move explicitly aims to allow the state to abuse the financial sector.

The Maldives Monetary Authority (MMA), the central bank of the Maldives, on Thursday last week brought changes to, and announced via the state gazette, the corporate governance code of commercial banks, insurance service providers, and financial institutions, facilitating the appointment of political designates.

Speaking with 'Sun', Ameer noted this was a new change to the financial sector and said it was a deeply concerning move.

 "Financial institutions, including MMA and banks, should be independently run. They are not reliant on the state budget. I believe this new change was implemented to allow the state to influence the financial sector," Ameer said.

He added this change would pose challenges for the Bank of Maldives (BML), which too will have the risk of political collusion.

While highlighting that the change would not be welcomed by international credit rating agencies, Ameer said it was concerning. Ameer said these rating agencies, specifically, assess if the financial sector operates without politicla influence.

The ex-Finance Minister also said that capable individuals, instead of political appointees, should be hired to the board of financial institutions, which had been the previous administration's approach.

Ameer assured that the former government never abused state powers to influence the financial sector.

Previously, the regulation bars appointment of cabinet ministers, in-charges of independent institutions, senior political officials, and government officials appointed by the president to the board of banks and insurance providers.

The central bank's hierarchy was recently revised with the introduction of Managing Directors for five areas of the MMA, which include Monetary Policy Research and Statistics, Financial Stability, Banking Operations, Corporate Services, and Financial Sector Development.

MMA has already announced seeking qualified individuals for these posts.

While Ameer welcomed this change to the central bank's structure, he said that even the newly introduced roles may not be safe from political coercion.

Following MMA's structural change, Maldives National Party (MNP) a coalition partner of the ruling People's National Congress (PNC) expressed its concerns as well.