Miguel Fernández Ordóñez: Recent decisions adopted by the Bank of Spain Testimony of Mr Miguel Fernández Ordóñez, Governor of the Bank of Spain, before the Parliamentary Committee on Financial Affairs, Madrid, 2 April 2009. *  *  *  Honourable Members of Parliament, Let me begin this testimony by thanking you for the opportunity to explain the recent decisions adopted by the Banco de España as supervisor of the banking system in relation to Caja de Ahorros de Castilla La Mancha (CCM). Last Saturday, the Executive Commission of the Banco de España adopted the decision to replace the governing bodies of the institution with three provisional central bank nominees. On Sunday, 29 March 2009, the government, in an extraordinary meeting of the Council of Ministers, passed a Royal Decree-Law authorising guarantees by the Treasury for a maximum amount of € billion backing the loan the Banco de España could grant to CCM. These two decisions have allowed CCM to continue operating normally and to meet all its payment obligations and commitments. This solution was adopted once a "private" solution to CCM's problems under the Savings Bank Deposit Guarantee Fund had been deemed inviable. As you know, CCM has held talks (exploratory in some cases, more advanced in others) with other savings banks with a view to participating in a merger process giving rise to a new economically and financially viable institution. In this connection, assistance from the Savings Bank Deposit Guarantee Fund had been envisaged to smooth the process.
Caleb M Fundanga: Payment system developments in the region Speech by Dr Caleb M Fundanga, Governor of the Bank of Zambia, at the official opening of the 2007 SADC Payment Systems Regional Conference, Livingstone, 2 April 2007. *  *  *  • SADC Payment Systems Project Team Leader; • SADC Payment Systems Project Country Leaders; • Chairperson, Bankers Association of Zambia; • Delegates from all SADC Countries; • Distinguished invited guests; and • Ladies and Gentlemen On behalf of the Bank of Zambia and indeed on my own behalf, I wish to welcome you all to Zambia and Livingstone in particular. For those of you coming to Livingstone for the first time, you will no doubt soon discover that this historical city, which incidentally was Zambia’s capital city until 1935 when it was moved to Lusaka, is one of the world’s pristine tourist destination and boasts of a number of magnificent sights and places of cultural interest. For those of you that have been here before, I wish you a joyous time as you renew your acquaintance with this beautiful city and enigmatic Victoria Falls. To all of you, I implore you to shop around and take a piece of Livingstone as souvenir on your return. Ladies and Gentlemen, allow me to thank you all for being here for the 2007 SADC Payment Systems Regional Conference. This event has now become interwoven into the tradition and fabric of SADC.