Under-Pressure Bulgaria Central Bank Head to Quit

Under-pressure Bulgaria central bank head to quitThe governor of Bulgaria's central bank BNB caved in to pressure on Tuesday to resign over the collapse of the country's fourth-largest lender Corporate Commercial Bank (CCB).

Ivan Iskrov said he would step down on July 10, three months before his mandate was due to expire, following criticism of the central bank's supervision of CCB.

Parliament is scheduled to elect his successor on July 10.

Senior International Monetary Fund economist Dimitar Radev is tipped for the job.

CCB was hit by a run on deposits in June 2014 after press reports alleging the bank had engaged in suspicious lending practices and was on the brink of bankruptcy. 

Its biggest shareholder fled abroad and is facing extradition from Serbia.

The turmoil brought back memories of the country's worst banking and financial crisis in the mid-1990s when 14 banks went bankrupt. CCB has since been declared insolvent.