ESMA Appoints Czech's Vojtěch Belling to Replace Erik Thedéen as VC

The Board of Supervisors of the European Securities and Markets Authority (ESMA) has appointed Vojtěch Belling, the Executive Director of the Financial Market Regulation and International Cooperation Department of the Czech National Bank (CNB), as its New Vice Chair.

Belling is to complete the ongoing two-and-a-half-year term of Erik Thedéen, Director General of the Swedish Financial Supervisory Authority, who was appointed as ESMA’s Vice Chair in December last year.

👤 The Board of Supervisors of @ESMAComms has appointed Vojtěch Belling as its Vice Chair. Mr Belling is the Executive Director of the Financial Market Regulation and International Cooperation Department of the Czech National Bank.
🔗 https://t.co/xL0UyVCW22 pic.twitter.com/p1vjt8hUe9

— Česká národní banka (@CNB_cz) November 15, 2022

ESMA noted that Thedéen will be leaving the EU securities market regulatory authority to take up the post of Governor of Sveriges Riksbank, the central bank of Sweden. Starting from November 21, 2022, Belling will serve out the remainder of Thedéen’s tenure until 15 June 2024.

Speaking on Belling, who has been a member of the ESMA’s Board of Supervisors since December 2020, Verena Ross, the Chair of ESMA, noted that the CNB Executive Director “has demonstrated his committed to ESMA.”

“I also want to take the opportunity to thank Erik Thedéen for the valuable role he has played for ESMA, as a member of the Board of Supervisors, the Management Board, and most recently also as ESMA’s Vice-Chair,” Ross, who was appointed EMSA Chair in October 2021, added.

Who Is Vojtěch Belling?

Vojtěch Belling has been working with the CNB, Czech’s apex bank, for the past eight years, by first working as the Director of the EU and International Affairs Division at the central bank between September 2014 and June 2018. Following that, he worked as the Executive Director of the Financial Regulation and International Cooperation Department of the bank.

Belling, who has served in several positions in the Czech Civil Service since 2002, has also once served as State Secretary for EU Affairs at CNB between 2011 and 2014. At ESMA, he was a member of the Management Board until September 2022.

Apart from working for independent governmental organizations, Belling is an active member of the academic community. He lectures about law and political science at Charles University in Prague and at Jan Evangelista Purkyně University in Ústí nad Labem. He also previously lectured at the University of Heidelberg in Germany.

Belling holds a Ph.D. degree in Political Science and a Master’s degree in Law from Charles University in Prague. As an academic, he has published several journal articles, including in the European Law Journal.