Osolnik Videmšek joined the board as advisor in January after a decade at NLB bank, where she was first secretary general and then director of the bank's sector for capital investments management and control.

Her appointment ends a months-long leadership hiatus after Gorazd Trček retired at the end of January following charges of fraud in connection with the management buyout of hardware chain Merkur.

In the interim time the bank was headed by Andrej Andoljšek, previously president of the bank's supervisory board.

The appointment comes at a crucial time for the bank, which has until the end of the year to shore up its capital or become the seventh bank to be bailed out by the state.

The bank reported a net loss of EUR 115.6m for 2013 and stress tests completed at the end of last year show it needs EUR 328m in fresh capital under the worst case scenario.