Darmin named Bapepam chairman

Leony Aurora, The Jakarta Post/Jakarta

The government has decided to appoint Darmin Nasution as chairman of the Capital Market Supervisory Agency (Bapepam), a minister says.

"The final assessment team has decided on Darmin," Minister of Finance Jusuf Anwar said on the sidelines of the Indonesian Capital Market Seminar and Expo on Friday.

"We are waiting for a presidential decree (to make the appointment official)," he said.

Darmin was appointed as ad interim chairman of the agency in November last year when then Bapepam head Herwidayatmo was sent to represent the country as a director of the World Bank.

Darmin also heads the directorate general for financial institutions in the ministry of finance.

The government had proposed Darmin and two others -- the agency's head of investment management and research Freddy Saragih and finance ministry's secretary general Agus Muhammad -- for the agency's top post.

"I don't know (about the appointment)," said Darmin when he was asked for comment. "I cannot say anything before the presidential decree is issued."

Darmin completed his bachelor degree on economics from the University of Indonesia in 1976 and earned his doctorate from the University Paris I Sorbonne in 1986.

Bapepam is a state agency under the finance ministry tasked mostly to regulate and oversee the country's capital market. It also conducts investigations into alleged irregularities and imposes fines.