Central Bank Group BIS Names Hernández de Cos as Next General Manager

• Former Bank of Spain Governor ES Pablo ES Pablo Hernández de Cos will replace Agustín Carstens as general manager of the Bank for International Settlements from July 1.

• He has called for the European Central Bank to work on its digital currency and was involved in setting global crypto banking rules in 2022.

ES Pablo Hernández de Cos, a former governor of the Bank of Spain who has called for the European Central Bank to work on a digital euro, will become the general manager of the Bank for International Settlements in July, the organization said in a release on Monday.

Hernández de Cos will oversee the operations of the BIS, known as the “central banks of central banks,” starting July 1 for a five-year term. He will replace Agustín Carstens.

The Basel-based organization, which is owned by 63 central banks, has conducted much work in the crypto sector in recent years. It’s worked with several central banks on central bank digital currency projects to improve cross-border payments, privacy and anonymity and advocated for a unified ledger. CBDCs are digital assets issued by central banks.

Last year, Hernández de Cos said that a digital euro could aid payment innovation. He was also chair of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision, which finalized global crypto-banking rules in 2022.

The Board of Directors of the BIS, which is responsible for supervising management and strategic direction, also reelected Governor of the Bank of France François Villeroy de Galhau as its chair on Tuesday. Tiff Macklem, Governor of the Bank of Canada, will become the chair of the BIS Consultative Council for the Americas (CCA) starting in January.