Bank of Spain
Headquarters | Madrid , Spain |
founding | 1782 |
president | Pablo Hernández de Cos |
country | Spain |
currency | |
ISO 4217 | EUR |
Currency reserves | EUR 67.3 billion (2019) |
Website | |
predecessor |
Banco Nacional de San Carlos |
successor |
European system of central banks (since 1999 ) |
List of central banks |
The Bank of Spain (Spanish Banco de España ) is the central bank of Spain and, as such, part of the European System of Central Banks .
organization
The management of the Bank of Spain is regulated by a constitutional law. It consists of the following organs:
- President: Pablo Hernández de Cos.
- Vice President: Margarita Delgado.
- Government advisory board, consisting of:
- The president,
- The Vice President,
- 6 consultants: Carmen Alonso, Paz Andrés, Rafael Castejón, Fernando Eguidazu , Núria Mas and Soledad Núñez ,
- The Secretary General of the Treasury and for International Financing: Carlos San Basilio Pardo ,
- The Vice-President of the CNMV Securities and Exchange Commission: Ana María Martínez-Pina .
- Executive Committee, consisting of:
- The president,
- The Vice President,
- 2 agents: Fernando Eguidazu and Soledad Núñez.
The President is appointed by the King of Spain.
history
Spain's second war against Great Britain (1780–83) was financed by means of interest-bearing paper money. These “Vales reale” were originally treasury bills issued in denominations of 600 pesos each with an interest rate of 4%. However, a royal decree of 1780 created compulsory acceptance in trade, which gave the papers the character of banknotes . Due to the unfavorable course of the war, the amount of paper in circulation was greatly increased, whereby the price fell noticeably. To restore monetary stability, redeemability in metal money was guaranteed in 1783. The guarantee was the newly created, on June 2, 1782 by decree of King Charles III. founded "Banco de San Carlos", today's Bank of Spain.
In the short term, the measure was successful and the papers were quoted at par. But the following year the bank was forced to support the government with extensive loans. In order to avoid illiquidity of the bank, the redemption obligation was lifted in 1784. The bank issued further banknotes on a large scale (now also with a nominal value of 300 and 150 pesos), the price of which fell accordingly. Various measures (such as the state setting a compulsory rate from 1799 to 1800) to stabilize the value failed. It was not until 1824 that the exchange rate stabilized by converting paper money into fixed-interest government bonds.
In 1829 the Banco de San Carlos was dissolved and the "Banco Español de San Fernando" was founded as a central bank in its place. This issued banknotes of 500, 1000, 2000 and 4000 reales. In 1841 the bank was shaken by an extensive counterfeit. As a result, there was a bank run that the bank only survived with the support of the major Madrid trading houses.
In 1844 a second semi-public central bank, the "Banco de Isabel II" was created in Madrid. However, the rivalries between the two houses did nothing to improve monetary policy. In 1847 both institutes merged to form the “Nuevo Banco Español de San Fernando”.
In the following years, the bank significantly reduced the amount of cash in circulation and, by separating the central bank business from the banking business, contributed to stabilizing the monetary value. In 1856 the bank was given the name “Banco de España”, but despite this name it was only one of many private central banks in Spain.
It was not until a decree of 1874 that the Spanish monetary system was centralized. The Banco de España received a banknote monopoly. 11 regional central banks were merged onto them.
Since June 11, 2018, the bank has been headed by Pablo Hernández de Cos .
Web links
- Bank of Spain (Spanish, English)
- Early documents and newspaper articles on the Bank of Spain in the 20th Century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .
Literature and individual references
- Hamilton, Earl, Jay: The Foundation of the Bank of Spain; Journal of Political Economy, Vol.LIII (1945)
- ↑ Spain Foreign Exchange Reserves . tradingeconomics.com. Accessed on January 28, 2017 (English)
- ^ Bank of Spain: The Governor. In: Banco de España (BDE). Accessed January 2, 2019 .
- ^ Banco de España: The Deputy Governor. In: Banco de España (BDE). Accessed January 2, 2019 .
- ^ Bank of Spain: The Governing Council. In: Banco de España (BDE). Accessed January 2, 2019 .
- ^ Bank of Spain: The Executive Commission. In: BDE (Banco de España). Accessed January 2, 2019 .
- ↑ Banco de España: From the Banco de San Carlos to the Banco de España ( Memento of the original dated August 5, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Albert Pick: paper money; 1967, pages 329-335