Spanish Foreign Exchange Institute (IEME)

The Spanish Institute of Foreign Currency (IEME) was created by the Law of August 25, 1939, ‘prescribing competence in the field of foreign exchange and creating the Spanish Institute of Foreign Currency,’ as an organization dependent on the then Ministry of Industry and Commerce.

It replaced the Foreign Currency Committee, created in 1936, which transferred all its assets and liabilities to the IEME.

The operations that the institute could carry out were as follows:

• Exclusively centralize the purchase and sale of foreign currency in Spain
• Buy and sell gold and silver, either coined or in bullion, and foreign or Spanish securities with international quotation
• Receive and constitute deposits of the items listed in the previous section
• Open accounts in foreign currency
• Borrow foreign currency and grant loans in foreign currency
• Hold sums of Spanish money and receive on credit the amounts required for its management
• All other operations necessary for the execution of those listed above

The Decree of November 14, 1969, transferred the operational functions of the IEME to the Banco de España. These functions were related to the control of banking operations, or the organization and statistical classification of operations. The IEME retained its administrative functions, which consisted of authorizing or regulating operations that individuals wished to carry out abroad.

Finally, the IEME was extinguished with the publication of the Decree-Law of July 17, 1973.

This institution compiled the cash register statistics of foreign operations (‘cash register’), which were continued by the Banco de España, inheriting its competencies, until 1992.