The Governing Council has given the green light to the new organizational chart of the Bank of Spain proposed by its new governor, José Luis Escriva. The incorporation of Mayte Ledo for a new Directorate-General for Strategy, People and Data concludes the renewal of the institution’s senior management after the first wave of appointments made two weeks ago.
Ledo comes from Escrivá’s former Ministry of Digital Transformation and Civil Service, where she held the position of Secretary of State for Digitalization and AI. This is not the first contact he has had with the former minister, since they met at the beginning of the century in the BBVA research department. He knows the financial sector, having worked at BBVA Research and held positions of responsibility in different areas of the bank’s business before arriving in the public sector.
Escriva chose Ledo to improve the use of data, as well as investment in human and physical capital. Digitization is one of the paths that the new governor wants to promote upon his arrival in the entity, as he stated during his inauguration. Promotes Juan Peñalosa of Statistics, who will now hold the position of deputy director in this area headed by Ledo.
Although everything legally falls to Escriva, he will take care of the directions on a daily basis with work oriented towards macroeconomics: the general direction of financial management; that of economics and statistics, where the research department is located, which he wants to strengthen even further under the direction of Ángel Gavilán; and the supervision department, headed by Mercedes Olano, who will represent Spain in the single supervisory mechanism.
The Vice Governor, Soledad Núñez, will be responsible for areas of financial supervision and regulationas the “number two” of the Bank of Spain traditionally does. Under his aegis are the Directorate General of Financial Stability, Regulation and Resolution; and that of Operations, Markets and Payment Systems. They have created a new orientation focused on ESG (environmental, social and governance) criteria.
Communication and governance will be unified in the newly created directorate dedicated to institutional, European relations and transparency, which will be headed by Paloma Marín, with Inés Calderón as deputy, changes already announced at the beginning of September.
“Domino effect” in digital transformation
Ledo’s departure has caused a “domino effect” in the portfolio of digital transformation and public service, which the Council of Ministers had covered even before the Bank of Spain approved the entry of Mayte Ledo. The position of Secretary of State for Digitalization and AI will now be occupied by María González Veracruz, until now in the same rank with “telecoms” and digital infrastructures.
For his part, the new minister of the branch, Oscar Lopez, has rescued from the presidential cabinet the one who was until now his partner, Antonio Hernando. He will occupy the position left vacant by Gonzalez and will be the new Secretary of State for “telecom” and digital infrastructures.
Hernando was the attached to the presidential cabinet headed by Lopez and is a lawyer specializing in immigration and asylum. He was a national deputy for the Madrid constituency and spokesperson for the socialist group in the Congress of Deputies. He was part of the PSOE Federal Executive in the areas of municipal policy, institutional relations and autonomous policy, the government said.
