During the boom years, the Bank of Spain’s practice of demanding compliance with fairly strict financial regulations led many experts to criticise its approach. Such supervision was decadent and old-fashioned, they said.
Of course, times have changed. As the world’s banking system unravels, regulating financial activity is now seen as a good thing. As we await the return of far stricter supervision, the Spanish model is, all of a sudden, being cited as a model of prudence and restraint.