Third, the entry into force of the Mechanism will entail the need to conduct new activities and develop new functions: the monitoring of the banking systems of the remaining euro area countries, which is needed to underpin the Banco de España’s place on the Supervisory Board; participation in the definition of the Mechanism’s supervisory policies and in the administrative procedures in relation to the significant banks; and also collaboration in the performance of other horizontal and specialised supervisory functions developed by the SSM. Fourth, there are certain areas of banking activity whose supervision will not be assumed by the Mechanism, but will continue to be within the remit of the national authorities. The Banco de España will thus continue to exercise supervisory powers in the areas of money laundering prevention, consumer protection and, partly, in the oversight of financial markets. It will also retain the supervision of banking foundations within its sphere of competence, that is to say having regard to regional governments. Fifth, the Banco de España, like the other national supervisory authorities participating in the SSM, fully retains its supervisory powers over non-bank financial institutions, other financial institutions and entities related to the financial sector such as payment institutions, electronic money institutions, credit financial intermediaries, mutual guarantee companies, currencyexchange bureaux and appraisal companies. In short, with the launch of the SSM, the main centre of supervisory decision-making on significant Spanish banks has passed from the Banco de España to the ECB.
Since 2013, and in addition, naturally, to our contribution to the preparatory work, we have been working hard at the Banco de España in two directions: a)  first, to adapt our structure to the new needs; and  b)  second, to encourage the presence of experts from the Banco de España at the ECB. A few weeks ago a reform of the Directorate General Banking Supervision was approved, designed to create a structure that mirrors that of the ECB, to facilitate interaction between the two authorities and achieve efficient management of resources. The new organisation replicates the arrangements envisaged by the ECB: two departments will be responsible for ongoing supervision of the significant banks, a third will be responsible for the less significant banks, and a fourth will perform the so-called “horizontal” tasks, in addition to on-site inspections of the significant banks. To underpin the position of the Banco de España’s representatives on the SSM’s governing bodies, a new SSM Coordination Service was created in February , which will be responsible for analysing and monitoring non-Spanish significant banks. Regarding the Spanish presence in the SSM, our experts have been very successful in the ECB selection processes, both at senior management and junior analyst levels, which testifies to their excellent qualifications and vast experience.