level and policy relevance, it has enjoyed the presence of a large number of distinguished visitors, including the federal reserve board chairman, jerome powell. building on this example, i am pleased to announce a new collaboration between the banco de espana, cemfi, and the universidad internacional menendez pelayo, an annual conference on the spanish economy, the first edition of which is due to take place next week in santander. this conference series seeks to bring together top 1 / 2 bis - central bankers'speeches researchers to present their recent work on topics of critical importance for the spanish economy, and also distinguished policy - makers to discuss their views on these topics. but past successes are simply a good starting point. cemfi has ambitious plans. it has a plan to implement a strategic vision for the future ( underpinned by rigorous external evaluation ), it has outstanding leadership ( current and incoming ) and it has plenty of talent. all these elements have been brought to fruition this year. in fact, the academic year that we are closing today has been full of good news for cemfi, starting with the successful restructuring of the master programme, the refurbishing of the new premises in casado del alisal 12, and the increase in the size of the faculty from 16 to 19 members, in line with the board of trustees'decision to have 25 faculty members by 2025. even so, we should never forget, that all this – the premises, staff, faculty, strategic plans – are merely instruments. you, the students at cemfi are the ultimate purpose. your education and your future. they are at the core of our decisions. apart from the master in economics and finance, the other major academic programme at cemfi is the phd in economics. in this respect, i would like to mention that 10 students have already defended their phd theses or will do so in the near future. they have all done high quality research and have secured good placements, two of them at the banco de espana. i am sure that we will see many papers from their theses appearing in academic journals. the 20 students who graduate today from the master in economics and finance come from seven different countries : argentina, australia, colombia, chile, china, costa rica, italy, and spain. they will join more than 700 alumni of cemfi's master programme. most of the students of this year's class will continue their graduate studies towards a phd,

on a national or on the regional bank we are contemplating? what matters should be decided by unanimity, what by a simple majority? should we consider proportional representation, consensus, or, for the regional matters, touching on discrete national interests, should we have a requirement for even double - majority voting, that is, after an agreement by the bank, a reference back to each nation for ratification? • what should be the tenure of office for boards and governors? should they have fixed, or open tenure like some judges dependent on “ good behaviour ” ; should these jobs be open to competition on merit, and with freer movement of labour, should the choices for employment with national and regional banks be limited on grounds of nationality? this issue is hotly debated now with the world bank and the imf, where, at least for the fund, the next managing director will be appointed in a different manner than has been the case since its creation. • how is accountability to be ensured? is that a matter solely for the board, or the shareholders ; at national level should there be a cross - party parliamentary committee of scrutiny ; and what do we envisage for our regional bank to safeguard probity and avoid even the suspicion of loose practice? • what is transparency? should documents be open to examination by the board, or by parliament or indeed by the people, under freedom of information? how far should voting behavior be reported ; should it be just the overall outcome or the detailed voting by individual members, as in many parliaments? • who should be the shareholders? should this be limited to the states or opened to the private sector and to others ; and, with the rise in shareholder interest in management in many companies, what should be the shareholder rights and powers in central and regional banks? • are central banks for the governments, or for the people? how should this choice be reflected in the forms of governance? architecture and performance these are some of the issues emerging, haltingly, on the agenda at national, regional and international levels. the mere fact of raising the questions suggests some answers, or some possible avenues for searching for them. in the final statement from the commonwealth meeting in june, this year, reflecting on the performance of the bretton woods institutions, the judgment was unequivocal : “ … such institutions do not have adequate capacity, governance structures, or built - in responsiveness either to anticipate or to address global needs in a timely fashion … ” this