Miguel Ángel Fernández Ordóñez

Miguel Ángel Fernández Ordóñez (born 3 April 1945) is a Spanish economist and politician, member of the Socialist Workers' Party and former Governor of the Bank of Spain. He is the younger brother of Francisco Fernández Ordóñez, also a Socialist politician, and he is married to Inés Alberdi.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Fernández and the second or maternal family name is Ordóñez.
Miguel Ángel Fernández Ordóñez
Miguel Ángel Fernández Ordóñez giving a speech at a conference hosted by Positive Money Europe in Brussels (May 23, 2018)
68th Governor of the Bank of Spain
In office
8 March 2006 – 11 June 2012
PresidentJosé Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
Mariano Rajoy
Preceded byJaime Caruana
Succeeded byLuis María Linde
Personal details
Born (1945-04-03) 3 April 1945
Madrid, Spain
Political partyPSOE
RelationsFrancisco Fernández Ordóñez (brother)
Alma materComplutense University of Madrid
OccupationEconomist

Early life and education

Fernández Ordóñez was born in Madrid in 1945, he graduated in Law and Economic Science in the Complutense University of Madrid. He belongs to the Cuerpo de Técnicos Comerciales and State Economists.

Career

Fernández Ordóñez served as secretary of State for the Economy, secretary of State for Commerce and Executive director of the International Monetary Fund. In 1992 he was appointed president of the Court of Defense of the Competition. Between 1995 and 1999 he was president of the Commission of the National Electric System. Between 2004 and March 2006 he was secretary of state for Internal Revenue. On 10 March he was appointed Counsellor of the Bank of Spain and member of its Executive Commission.

Bank of Spain, 2006–2012

Cadena SER announced that Fernández Ordóñez would succeed Jaime Caruana as Governor of the Bank of Spain in July 2006 when Caruana finished his term. Minister of Economy and Finance Pedro Solbes confirmed this decision on 21 June 2006.

In response to the Spanish property bubble, Fernández Ordoñez sounded the alarm in 2006, pleading with banks and mortgage lenders to rein in loans as the building bubble appeared ready to burst after house prices had risen by 150% in a decade.[1] By 2008, he ordered a closer watch on the cashflow of banks.[2]

In May 2012, Fernández Ordoñez announced that he would step down on June 10, a month before the end of his six-year term, after government officials blamed him for the central bank’s failure to identify and warn earlier about the problems at Bankia and other troubled institutions.[3][4] Before the end of his term, he sought to defend his legacy before parliament, but the ruling party blocked his request.[5] On 12 June 2012 he was replaced by Luis María Linde as governor of the Bank of Spain.

Later career

In 2017, Spain’s top court charged Fernández Ordoñez for failing to stop Bankia from being listed on the stock exchange.[6] He was later absolved of possible criminal acts in the case.[7]

Other activities

Political positions

In 2018, Fernández Ordóñez came out in favour of a radical reform of the banking and monetary system. In several speeches[9][10] and opinion pieces[11][12] in Spanish media, he advocated for the introduction of a central bank digital currency in the Eurozone, a scheme under which citizens could have a current account directly at the central bank. Fernandez-Ordoñez thinks such system would make the financial system more stable and – paradoxically – less regulated (eg. it would make deposit guarantee schemes unnecessary):

digital money deposited in Central Banks does not need any protection from the State since their deposits are not “promises” to return money, rather they are simply money. Therefore, at no time would citizens run the risk of not being able to withdraw or transfer money from their deposits. The banking crises could no longer occur, with which citizens would stop suffering and paying the cost of these crises.[9]

Sources

References
  1. Graham Keeley (9 June 2008), Sun sets on building frenzy that powered a country's economy The Guardian.
  2. Graham Keeley (9 June 2008), Sun sets on building frenzy that powered a country's economy The Guardian.
  3. Julien Toyer and Andres Gonzalez (5 June 2012), Bank of Spain governor to be named on Thursday Reuters.
  4. Raphael Minder (29 May 2012), Spanish Central Bank Chief to Leave Early as Crisis Gathers New York Times.
  5. Nigel Davies (29 May 2012), Chief's exit paves way for Bank of Spain rehabilitation Reuters.
  6. Saim Saeed (13 February 2017), Ex-central bank chief charged over Spanish banking scandal Politico Europe.
  7. Todd White (16 September 2017), Spain's Ex-Central Bank Governor Absolved in Bankia Case Bloomberg Business.
  8. John Vinocur (1 March 2010), Economy of Spain on the Edge International Herald Tribune.
  9. Fernández Ordóñez, Miguel. "The Future of Banking: Secure Money and Deregulation of the Financial System" (PDF). *.
  10. "Time to Rethink the European Central Bank?". Positive Money Europe. 2018-06-23. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
  11. Ordoñez, Miguel Ángel Fernández (2018-04-20). "Tribuna | Un dinero revolucionario". El País (in Spanish). ISSN 1134-6582. Retrieved 2018-10-03.
  12. "Fernández Ordóñez aboga por reformar la banca para liberalizar las entidades". eldiario.es (in Spanish). Retrieved 2018-10-03.
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