Pirc, who has so far served as chief financial officer, will step in after Imre Balogh resigned from the top post at BAMC in mid-December last year, citing personal reasons.

Balogh stepped down two weeks after the government dismissed Miha Juhart, one of the non-executive directors, over a dodgy land sale that is estimated to have cost BAMC about EUR 1m in lost revenue.

Subsequently, the government appointed Tomaž Besek and Marko Tišma non-executive directors.

"The appointment of deputy executive director is one of the first concrete steps of the new management board after December's appointment of Besek and Tišma and Balogh's resignation.

"The management board wants to rearrange and stabilise the situation at the company, which was recently subject to numerous external reviews, and make sure BAMC performs its main task undisturbed," the bad bank said in a press release.

Pirc, who joined BAMC in August 2017, took office today and will hold the post until a new CEO is selected.