financial markets opened on monday, 30 march, ccm would be subject to a crisis of confidence on the bond markets and further withdrawals of deposits from its branch network that could prompt a liquidity collapse. the delicate situation of ccm required the immediate activation by the banco de espana of the precautionary measure provided for in the rules governing the replacement of the board and the appointment of new managers. to speed the process and avoid unnecessary delays that might exacerbate liquidity problems, and to halt any possible contagion to other parts of the system, the banco de espana took the swiftest of decisions while fully observing the provisions of the law on the discipline and intervention of credit institutions. the conduct of the banco de espana has been informed by the lessons that all supervisors have drawn from the unfolding of the financial crisis in other developed countries. in particular, it is our resolve to prevent the problems of an individual credit institution degenerating to such an extent as to spread to other domestic banks and savings banks. the speed behind the banco de espana's decision also justifies the urgency of and need for the royal decree - law adopted by the government. without going into details on the legislation, i would like to stress that the granting of guarantees by the treasury has a dual purpose. first, it allows the banco de espana to act with full force, providing a very high volume of guarantees backing potentially significant funding. such provision is necessary if the ailing credit institution is to meet all its commitments and honour all its payments. since autumn 2008, when the suspension of payments by lehman brothers led to a risk of widespread collapse on the international financial markets, no country has allowed any credit institution active on international markets to suspend payments. spain has followed the lead of the developed countries, and you should rest assured that ccm will meet all its commitments to depositors and other creditors. second, the maastricht treaty prevents central banks from extending emergency liquidity assistance to an ailing institution, such as ccm, without the appropriate collateral. given the amounts that might have to be committed, the spanish treasury had to provide explicit guarantees to the central bank, so as not to infringe the treaty ’ s prohibition on central banks extending " monetary financing " to public treasuries. * * * having explained the substance of and the reasons behind the urgent replacement of ccm ’ s directors, allow me to offer greater details on the banco de espana ’ s past supervisory

the world. however, a central bank is a public institution and a public institution must be accountable to the public, through its elected representatives in parliament. consequently, although parliament cannot give instructions to the central bank on how to implement its responsibilities, it must be able to provide oversight of the operations of the central bank and make criticisms of it where this is warranted. the main bodies within parliament which provide oversight of the bank of uganda are the specialist committees, in particular the committee on commissions, statutory authorities, and state enterprises ( cosase ) and the public accounts committee ( pac ). the bank of uganda ’ s annual report and audited accounts are submitted by the auditor general to the speaker of parliament, who can refer them to a parliamentary committee. myself and my staff frequently appear before parliamentary committees, both to answer questions about our own operations and to explain our views in regard to economic and financial issues. if a central bank is to maintain the confidence of the public in the independence of its operations, it must be prepared to be fully transparent and explain its actions to legislators and to listen to the views of these legislators, who represent the public. together with my staff, i will be pleased to answer any questions you may have and to hear your own views on these matters or any others in which you are interested. thank you all for listening.