Banco de España

Bank of Spain
Banco de España (Spanish)

logo indicates membership in Eurosystem.
Headquarters	Madrid
Coordinates	40°25′06″N 3°41′41″W / 40.41833°N 3.69472°W / 40.41833; -3.69472Coordinates: 40°25′06″N 3°41′41″W / 40.41833°N 3.69472°W / 40.41833; -3.69472
Established	1782
Governor	Luis María Linde
Central bank of	Government of Spain
Reserves	9,05 million troy ounces (September 2015)[
Preceded by	Banco Nacional de San Carlos
Succeeded by	European Central Bank (1999)1
Website	www.bde.es
The Bank of Spain still exists but many functions have been taken over by the ECB.

Bank of Spain (building)
Native name Spanish: Edificio del Banco de España
Location	Madrid, Spain
Spanish Property of Cultural Interest
Official name: Edificio del Banco de España
Criteria	Monument
Designated	1999
Reference no.	RI-51-0010508
Location of Bank of Spain (building) in Spain

The Bank of Spain (Spanish: Banco de España), is the national central bank of Spain. Established in Madrid in 1782 by Charles III, today the bank is a member of the European System of Central Banks. It is the national supervisor of the Spanish banking system, and as such its activity is regulated by the Law of Autonomy of the Banco de España.

Originally named the Banco Nacional de San Carlos, it was founded in 1782 by Charles III, to stabilize government finances through its state bonds (vales reales). Although it aided the state, the bank was initially owned privately by stockholders. Its assets included those of "Spanish capitalists, French rentiers, and surprisingly, several treasuries of Indian communities in New Spain" (colonial Mexico). Its first director was French banker François Cabarrus, known in Spain as Francisco Cabarrús.

Following a series of wars between 1793 and 1814, the bank was owed more than 300 million reales by the state, placing it in financial difficulty.

Treasury minister Luis López Ballesteros created a fund of 40 million reales in 1829 against which the bank could issue its own notes at Madrid. It did so after renaming itself Banco Español de San Fernando.

In 1844 the competing Banco de Isabel II and Banco de Barcelona were established, followed in 1846 by the Banco de Cádiz. In 1847, following overexposure in the failing property market of Madrid, the Banco de Isabel II merged with Banco de San Fernando, retaining the latter name.

Under the guidance of Ramón Santillán in the 1850s, the bank extended its operations to the cities of Alicante and Valencia and took the name, Banco de España. Requiring financial support from the bank to back its civil and colonial wars, the government of Spain granted the Banco de España a monopoly on the issuance of Spanish bank notes in 1874. Construction of the bank's headquarters building began in the 1880s.