Chief NLB supervisor Primož Karpe welcomed the unanimous support for the two appointments. He also stressed that Brodnjak was a good choice, "not only because of his domestic and foreign experience, but also because he has done an excellent job in managing the bank in demanding circumstances during the last months". Before coming to NLB's management in late 2012, Brodnjak held various senior positions in Hypo Alpe Adria bank, insurer Zavarovalnica Triglav, Bawag bank, Raiffeisen bank and Bank Austria Creditanstalt. Laszlo Pelle will join NLB from Erste Bank in Hungary, where he was the COO for the last six years.

He has years-long experience in banking, redesign and streamline of processes, and simplification of core banking products, a press release on the Ljubljana Stock Exchange website reads. Today's appointments round up the four-strong board, which also includes German Andreas Burkhardt and Austrian Archibald Kremser. According to the press release, the board "is thus complete and has a uniform [five-year] term of office, bringing tranquillisation and stability to corporate governance of NLB, which is of crucial importance for the continuation of the bank's successful operations".

It was expected the supervisory board would wait with the appointment until after a shareholders' meeting at which Slovenian Sovereign Holding is to appoint three supervisors to replace those who stepped down in April after allegedly being found unsuitable by the European Central Bank (ECB). These appointments are also expected shortly, as the state assets custodian has to prepare the sale of NLB through IPO, which is expected to begin in the autumn. SSH will first present NLB on roadshows, with the first, announced for next week, being postponed to a later date due to volatility on financial markets following the British decision to leave the EU.