Spain’s central bank may be led by a woman
MADRID: Spain may be about to become the first of the eurozone’s four biggest economies to name a woman to lead its central bank.

Montserrat Martinez, currently vice-president of securities regulator CNMV, is seen as the front-runner to replace governor Pablo Hernandez de Cos when his mandate ends in mid-June, according to people familiar with the matter.

The field also includes the head of the Financial Stability Institute and a current deputy of De Cos, said the people, who asked not to be identified, discussing private deliberations.

The position carries with it a seat on the European Central Bank’s (ECB) 26-member Governing Council, which sets interest rates for the currency bloc and where the 20 national central bank bosses are all men.

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez has a track record of championing diversity, appointing a cabinet with more women than men. Whoever takes charge will do so just as the ECB starts undoing the spate of rate hikes it deployed to quell inflation after Russia attacked Ukraine.

While De Cos’s final monetary policy meeting on June 5 and 6 should confirm an initial cut, his successor will be thrust into an increasingly heated debate over how quickly and how far to ease.

Politics could play a big role in the selection process. Instead of a technocrat, Sanchez may opt for an ally of his ruling Socialists.

It remains to be seen whether a traditional understanding will endure under which the opposition picks the Bank of Spain’s deputy chief.

Sanchez has also delivered surprises in previous appointments, selecting Carlos Cuerpo, whose name hadn’t arisen in months of speculation, as Economy Minister last year.

Martinez has been vice-chairperson of Spain’s market regulator for more than three years and previously worked at the central bank, where she headed the deputy governor’s office.

She’s also held various positions at Spanish commercial lenders, such as CaixaBank and BBVA.

Currently chairman of the Bank for International Settlement’s Financial Stability Institute, Fernando Restoy, like Martinez, also served as the CNMV’s vice-chairperson.

He, too, is a former deputy governor at the central bank, where he worked side by side with Martínez.

Deputy governor since 2018 and a member of the ECB’s Single Supervisory Mechanism, Margarita Delgado has spent most of her career at Spain’s central bank.

She’ll be hoping not to miss out on promotion again, having been rejected last year in favour of Germany’s Claudia Buch to lead the ECB’s Supervisory Board.

Angel Ubide is a former economic advisor to Sanchez, who currently heads economic research at Citadel Hedge Fund in New York. Despite the distance, he remains well connected to Spain’s socialists and Sanchez.

Should the prime minister appoint a woman to run the central bank, Ubide is seen as a potential deputy, though that could put the government on a collision course with the opposition People’s Party, which would expect to name the No. 2 under a longstanding informal pact.

Oscar Arce is director-general of economics at the ECB in Frankfurt, which means he already attends rate-decision meetings.

He’s previously held a similar position at Spain’s central bank, the same role de Cos had before becoming governor in 2018.

An executive board member at Banco Sabadell, David Vegara served as Spain’s Secretary for Economic Affairs between 2004 and 2009, under a previous socialist government.

Jose Luis Escriva works under Sanchez as Minister for Digital Transformation and Civil Service and was Minister of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration in the last government.

He’s previously been chairman of Spain’s Independent Authority for Financial Responsibility and has held positions at BBVA and the ECB. — Bloomberg
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Spain may be about to become the first of the eurozone’s four biggest economies to name a woman to lead its central bank.