Pablo Hernández de Cos: Reflections on the past and future of central bank independence

Speech by Pablo Hernández de Cos, Chair of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision and Governor of the Bank of Spain, at the Seminar on "The Relevance of Central Bank Independence: Challenges and Outlook", Bank of Mexico, Mexico City, 22 November 2019.

The views expressed in this speech are those of the speaker and not the view of the BIS.

Central bank speech  | 
28 November 2019

Good morning. It is my pleasure to participate in this conference on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the autonomy of the Banco de México. I take the opportunity to congratulate you on this landmark. Events such as this contribute to highlighting the relevance of the independence of monetary authorities, and my words today will be along these lines. 

In my address I shall first briefly refer to the independence of the Banco de España, both as a national central bank in itself but also as a member of the European System of Central Banks. Then, I would like to share with you some more general thoughts about current challenges to central banking from the perspective of their independence.

The independence of the Banco de España

The Banco de España was granted institutional independence in July 1994. So this year, as is also the case for the Banco de México, marks the 25th anniversary of our Law of Autonomy. The independence of the Banco de España came about as part of the European economic integration process.