Caruana to step down as Basel Committee chief

Jaime Caruana will step down as chairman of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision in July, when his six-year tenure as head of the Spanish central bank expires.

A Bank for International Settlements spokeswoman said the Committee planned to discuss Caruana’s replacement at its next scheduled meeting in March.

Since Caruana was appointed chairman in May 2003, the Basel Committee has drawn up some of the most sweeping regulations in its history, including the finishing touches to the new Basel II capital Accord, which will govern the measurement of risk within banks and the amount of capital that must be laid aside against these risks.

Spain’s Prime Minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, is expected to name Caruana’s replacement at the Bank of Spain in the coming weeks. Among the front-runners are Zapatero’s economics adviser, Miguel Sebastián, the director general of the treasury, Solidad Nuñez, and a member of the Bank of Spain’s governing council, Julio Segura Sánchez.