Caruana to end stint as Basel Committee chairman

Jaime Caruana will step down as chairman of the Basel Committee on Banking Supervision in July, when his six-year tenure as head of the Spanish central bank expires. A Bank for International Settlements (BIS official says the Committee plans to discuss Caruana's replacement at its next scheduled meeting in March.

Since Caruana was appointed chairman in May 2003, the Basel Committee has drawn up some of the most sweeping regulations in its history, including the finishing of the new Basel II capital Accord, which will govern the measurement of risk within banks and dictate how much regulatory capital they have to hold.

Spain's prime minister, José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, is expected to name Caruana's replacement at the Bank of Spain in the coming weeks. Among the front-runners are Zapatero's economics