The Council of Ministers will appoint Judith Arnal, former chief of staff of Nadia Calviño in the Ministry of Economic Affairs, and Professor Antonio Cabrales as new directors of the Bank of Spain, replacing Carmen Alonso, proposed by the PSOE, and Fernando Eguidazu, designated by the PP, whose mandates expired at the beginning of February.
The Government considers that the two new directors are two technical profiles of recognized prestige. His appointment will be made after having previously been "heard" with the governor of the Bank of Spain, Pablo Hernández de Cos, in accordance with the internal regulations of the supervisory body, indicate from the Executive.
With this appointment, a new blockade is avoided, such as those that led to clashes between the Government and the PP regarding the renewal of essential positions in State institutions. The two new appointments are approved by the Government at the proposal of Calviño, who has been the one who has been weighing the different options in recent days, including a possible renewal of Eguidazu in office.
The appointment will reinforce the PSOE's share in the Bank of Spain, already existing among the directors of political affiliation and until now compensated by some internal balance, such as placing Eguizado on the institution's executive committee. The political part corresponds to a portion of the bank's council made up of six members, who sit next to the Governor of the Bank of Spain, the Deputy Governor, Margarita Delgado, and two additional members, who are the Secretary of State for the Treasury and the Vice President of the CNMV.
The last appointment had been that of Carles Manera, linked to the PSOE, replacing the popular Rafael Castejó. Núria Más continues to sit in the body, which is the one that covers what is known as the Catalan quota. She came to the position in 2017 and her term expires in March, with which a new appointment process will open shortly.
Since his arrival in office, Calviño had not appointed directors in the Bank of Spain and the new renewals were presented as a source of conflict, after what happened in the CGPJ and in the Constitutional Court. Hernández de Cos had emphasized that the new members had at least a technical profile.
Arnal has been a director of the Official Credit Institute (ICO), Red.es and the National Innovation Company (Enisa). She worked in the Public Treasury for ten years, in which she came to direct the Department of Financial Analysis. She was also president of the Financial Sandbox Monitoring Commission and the Technical Subcommittee of the Spanish Macroprudential Authority (AMCESFI), in charge of evaluating the impact of fiscal measures against covid.
She is also a PhD in Economics and Business from the University of Navarra, a commercial technician and State economist, a master's degree in Macroeconometrics and Finance from the Menéndez Pelayo International University, a master's degree in Portfolio Management from the Institute of Stock Market Studies and a degree in Law and Economics. by the University of Navarre.
Cabrales is a PhD in Economics from the University of California and a professor at the Carlos III University. He has been a professor at University College London and at Pompeu Fabra University. He has also been executive vice president of the European Economic Association, former president of the Spanish Economic Association and honorary member of the Econometric Society. He has been one of the experts who have participated in drawing up the 'Spain 2050' agenda.
He is also associate editor of the Journal of Economic Theory and was editor of BEPress JEAP and Investigaciones Económicas, and associate editor of JEEA and SERIES. He has published in journals such as the American Economic Review, Journal of Political Economy, Review of Economic Studies, Review of Financial Studies. Management Science, and Physical Review Letters.
