banks has passed from the banco de espana to the ecb. but this does not mean that there are no important tasks for the banco de espana – or other participating countries ’ national supervisors – to perform in the ssm, in addition to the functions that remain intact as they are not assumed – or are assumed only partially or in exceptional circumstances – by the ssm. in recent months there has been talk of the banco de espana becoming devoid of its powers. this reflects a lack of knowledge or misunderstanding of how the ssm is organised and how it will operate and is reminiscent, in a sense, of the talk afoot when monetary union came into being and the ecb assumed responsibility for the main monetary policy decisions. the model then adopted entailed full decentralisation of monetary policy implementation. this meant that it relied on the national central banks for its implementation ( in fact, credit and deposit institutions have no direct operational relationship with the ecb ) and that in practice, although the ecb assumed decision - making powers, there was no decrease in either the workload or the staffing needs of the national central banks. bis central bankers ’ speeches albeit for different reasons, the start - up of the ssm is expected to have a similar impact on workload and staffing needs at the banco de espana and at the other national supervisory authorities. * * * in any event, the creation of the ssm poses an organisational challenge for the national authorities. since 2013, and in addition, naturally, to our contribution to the preparatory work, we have been working hard at the banco de espana in two directions : a ) first, to adapt our structure to the new needs ; and b ) second, to encourage the presence of experts from the banco de espana at the ecb. a few weeks ago a reform of the directorate general banking supervision was approved, designed to create a structure that mirrors that of the ecb, to facilitate interaction between the two authorities and achieve efficient management of resources. the new organisation replicates the arrangements envisaged by the ecb : two departments will be responsible for ongoing supervision of the significant banks, a third will be responsible for the less significant banks, and a fourth will perform the so - called “ horizontal ” tasks, in addition to on - site inspections of the significant banks. to underpin the position of the banco de espana ’ s representatives on the ssm ’ s governing bodies, a new ssm coordination service was created in february, which

binding decisions in certain fields. as to macroprudential supervision, the creation of a european systemic risk board was proposed. its main purpose would be to detect general risks, apprising the competent european authorities thereof, where pertinent, so they might take the appropriate decisions. these are some of the initial steps of a process which will no doubt be long, but which will profoundly affect the systems of each and every european country. it is thus important that spain should participate actively in the work of these international fora. in this respect, it is most satisfying that spain has been welcomed as a member of the financial stability board, the successor of the financial stability forum created in 1999, in which we had not hitherto participated. to be sure, the banco de espana ’ s experience in the design and implementation of a regulatory and supervisory system that has proven most effective during this crisis has been one of the factors that have helped spain merit this position. and here i shall conclude, though not without first thanking the governing council, the executive commission, the directors general and all our staff for their work this year. i should like to single out two people to thank : jose vinals, who has been with me at the helm of this institution over the past three years, and javier ariztegui, who has replaced him and assumed the key post of deputy governor of the banco de espana. i can safely say that, thanks to everybody ’ s efforts, the bank has been able to creditably perform the tasks entrusted to it. as stated in my address today, new major challenges will arise in the coming months, linked closely to the emergence from the exceptional situation experienced by the markets and financial institutions over the past two years, and these will no doubt affect the core functions the bank has to perform. i am sure i can count on the support of all of you to tackle them satisfactorily.