Spain has thrown its weight behind Pablo Hernández de Cos as the next president of the European Central Bank, nominating the current Bank for International Settlements chief to succeed Christine Lagarde when her term expires in October 2027.
The BIS has been actively building and testing CBDC architectures, studying stablecoin risks, and shaping the rulebook that will govern how digital money works across borders. Hernández de Cos has been running that operation.
From Bank of Spain to the global stage
Hernández de Cos served as Governor of the Bank of Spain from 2018 to 2024 before taking the helm at the BIS. That profile makes him a continuity candidate: monetary policy stability and financial supervision are his brand.
The ECB is knee-deep in its digital euro initiative, which has moved into advanced investigation and preparation phases. Whoever takes the presidency will inherit that project and be tasked with deciding whether, when, and how a digital euro actually launches at scale.
