The former governor of the Bank of Spain, Pablo Hernández de Cos, has become director general of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).
His mandate will begin in July 2025 and will last five years, which he can renew. Hernández de Cos succeeds the Mexican Agustín Carstens at the head of what is called the “central bank of central banks”.
Hernández de Cos finished his term as governor of the Bank of Spain in June 2024. The Madrid native was the last appointment of the Popular Party (PP) government of Mariano Rajoy, in 2018.
It will now move to Basel, Switzerland, where the BIS is headquartered and from where it coordinates banking regulatory policies. Hernández de Cos is the second Spaniard to head this institution, after Jaime Caruana, another former governor of the Bank of Spain, who led it between 2009 and 2017.
The BIS, founded in 1930, making it the world’s oldest international financial institution, helps central banks promote global monetary and financial stability by acting as a first-party counterparty in their own financial transactions and as a agent or trustee. international financial operations.
In addition, the BIS is home to the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, which sets global standards for banking supervision, giving its director a key role in developing a global consensus on financial rules.
