The Banco de España will hold its ninth annual research conference in Madrid on 30 November and 1 December 2026, on the theme “Structural change in the international monetary system: Challenges for central banks”. The two-day event will take place in the Hemiciclo II and, according to the central bank, is open by invitation only.
The published programme divides the conference into four thematic sessions. The focus will be on the growing role of digital assets, the global availability of safe assets, the identification of the dominant international currency, and capital market integration. The programme features expert presentations and panel discussions with contributions from researchers and central bank representatives from Europe and the United States. Times for panels and breaks are listed in the programme.
The choice of topics addresses three current challenges for central banks. First, Stablecoins and other digital assets are bringing new technologies, business models and potential risks to financial stability and payment systems into focus. Second, geopolitical tensions and differing fiscal paths are shifting the supply of assets regarded as safe, which can affect pricing, liquidity and international portfolio flows. Third, the question is how the dominance and use of international reserve currencies will evolve in a more fragmented global financial system.
For Spain and the European Economic and Monetary Union these issues affect the effectiveness of monetary policy transmission, the resilience of the financial system and the role of European initiatives to provide safe assets. Assessments of implications for monetary policy or markets should be understood as analysis; the conference announcement contains no policy decisions. Specific measures require separate decisions by the relevant institutions.
The Banco de España presents the conference as a forum for exchange between academia and practitioners. Its outcomes may be expected to inform research papers, policy notes and professional debate. Whether this leads to possible courses of action, for example on the regulation of digital assets, capital market standardisation or strengthening the euro as an international currency will depend on further examination, international coordination and political processes. Given its timing shortly before the end of the year, the event is likely above all to inform research and central bank work programmes for 2027.
Editor: Daniel Mayer (Article created with AI assistance).