Pablo Hernández de Cos: Challenges of population ageing from a central bank perspective

Public lecture by Mr Pablo Hernández de Cos, Governor of the Bank of Spain and Chair of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, at the International Center for Monetary and Banking Studies (ICMB), Geneva, 3 March 2020.

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

Central bank speech  | 
04 March 2020

Good afternoon.

Let me start by thanking Professor Ugo Panizza for his invitation to participate in this public lecture organised by the International Center for Monetary and Banking Studies. I cannot think of a better place to share some thoughts on population ageing and the challenges it poses, in particular from a central bank standpoint.

In my talk I will first describe the process of demographic transformation the world is undergoing. Next, I will shed some light on the challenges that population ageing poses to macroeconomic developments and policies. Finally, I will focus on the implications of an ageing society for the financial system.

The demographic transformation