ESM appoints Sebastien Levy as Head of Investment and Treasury

Luxembourg – The European Stability Mechanism (ESM) has appointed Sebastien Levy to the position of Head of Investment and Treasury. For the past three years, Mr Levy was the head of Banque de France Reserves Management Division.

Mr Levy joined Banque de France in 2000 as a market economist before his appointment as fixed income portfolio manager. He also spent two years on secondment to the Reserve Bank of Australia before returning to the Banque de France and, in 2009, became deputy head of Banque de France Reserves Management division. In his most recent roles, Mr Levy was responsible for enhancing Banque de France investment and diversification processes. He was also closely involved in the operational implementation of Eurosystem market intervention programmes.

Christophe Frankel, CFO and Deputy Managing Director said: "I am really pleased that Mr Levy is joining the ESM and his international experience will strengthen our investment team. Mr Levy will lead our colleagues who manage the various portfolios and in particular, the €80 billion of paid-in capital that the 18 euro area Member States have invested in the ESM.”

The ESM’s paid-in capital is the highest of any international financial institution and along with committed callable capital, contribute to the ESM’s high creditworthiness. This enables the ESM to issue bills and bonds at favourable rates in order to finance loans provided to beneficiary Member States.

Paid-in capital is invested in high quality liquid assets with capital preservation as a key objective. Paid-in capital may not be used for lending purposes.