MADRID, 14 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The Spanish Margarita Delgado, current deputy governor of the Bank of Spain, would have taken an important step forward in her career against the German Claudia Buch for reaching the presidency of the Supervisory Board of the European Central Bank (ECB), after achieving unanimous support for his candidacy at the hearing held before the European Parliament.

As reported by ‘Politico’, the coordinators of the European Parliament’s Economics Committee unanimously supported Delgado’s candidacy to preside over the ECB’s supervisory arm of European banking, which places the Spanish company as the favorite to obtain the appointment.

“Margarita Delgado has almost taken over the supervisory position of the largest banks in the eurozone, after key legislators endorsed her as their preferred candidate over the German Claudia Buch,” reports this medium.

Delgado’s candidacy has always been seen as one of the strongest, although the specialized press pointed out that it could end up playing against him that currently several senior financial positions in the EU are in the hands of Spaniards, apart from the vice-presidency of the ECB. de Guindos, since José Manuel Campa presides over the European Banking Authority (EBA); the governor of the Bank of Spain, Pablo Hernández de Cos, is president of the Basel Committee, and Fernando Restoy heads the Financial Stability Institute (FSI) of the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).

To the Spanish company’s credit, though, she is seen as having a better understanding of the ECB’s inner workings, having helped set up its supervisory arm and served as deputy director general.

Before that, Delgado was a key official at the Bank of Spain dealing with the country’s banking crisis and as deputy governor, she deals with a wide range of issues, including financial stability.

According to the ECB, candidates for the position must have recognized creditworthiness and experience in banking and finance, including considerable professional experience in supervision, as well as extensive experience in leading and developing management teams.

It is expected that, after consultation with the Supervisory Board, the Governing Council will nominate a female candidate in the autumn, who will be approved by the European Parliament and confirmed by the Council of the European Union during the fourth quarter of 2023.

In this way, the finally selected candidate, whose appointment must be approved by the European Parliament and confirmed by the Council of the European Union during the fourth quarter of 2023, will assume the reins of ECB banking supervision as of January 1, 2024 and for a non-renewable period of five years.

The ECB Supervisory Board is made up of the President, the Vice-President, four ECB representatives and representatives of the national supervisors involved in European banking supervision, formally known as the Single Supervisory Mechanism (SSM).