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

drawn up, accounting for approximately 85 % of euro area bank assets. 15 of these are spanish groups, representing around 90 % of the assets of our country ’ s deposit institutions. it should be borne in mind that when we talk about 120 groups, we are referring to consolidated groups ; that is to say, the number of individual banks is far higher. in total there are 1, 244 individual institutions, which is essentially explained by the importance of cooperative banks in certain euro area countries, in particular france, the netherlands, austria and finland. to directly supervise the significant banks, the ecb has created two directorate generals, which shall perform the continuous monitoring of the 120 groups. dg i will supervise the 30 biggest banks in terms of balance sheet and activities, while dg ii will cover the remaining 90 significant banks. however, the supervision of specific aspects or matters, what is known as on - site inspection, will be carried out by different teams. the ecb has thus adopted a different model to that place at the banco de espana to date : functionally separating the continuous monitoring of banks and inspection visits. the centrepiece of the supervision of significant banks will be the joint supervisory teams, responsible for the day - to - day oversight of these banks. these teams will be made up of specialists from the ecb and from the national authorities, under the leadership of a coordinator designated by the ecb, and a sub - coordinator designated by the national supervisor. approximately 75 % of those making up the teams will be drawn from and designated by the national supervisors ; in the case of spanish banks, it will of course be staff from the banco de espana. inspection visits to significant banks, what is known as on - site inspection, will continue to be conducted by the national authorities, and their results will be passed onto the ecb for the adoption of the appropriate measures. with regard to the less significant banks, national authorities will continue to directly supervise them as they have to date. over 3, 600 banks across the euro area are involved here. the ecb will define common practices and criteria, it will monitor the actions and position of these banks and it will always be entitled, if it considers it necessary, to re - claim direct supervision over any of these banks. bis central bankers ’ speeches the competences and responsibilities of the banco de espana in the framework of the new mechanism i would now like to address the competences and responsibilities of the banco de espana, as a national supervisor, under