Luis de Guindos

In March 2018, De Guindos finally left his position as Minister and Román Escolano replaced him. On 14 March 2018, a majority of the European Parliament endorsed him as new ECB Vice-President.

In 2017, de Guindos was widely seen as a natural successor to replace Jeroen Dijsselbloem as next chairman of the Eurogroup but he ruled himself out early in favour of an expected candidacy to become Vice-President of the European Central Bank. After Ireland withdrew the candidacy of Philip Lane in February 2018, German Finance Minister Peter Altmaier was one of the first among his peers to openly endorse de Guindos.

When Spain's acting Industry Minister José Manuel Soria resigned in April 2016 following allegations of links to offshore dealings which emerged after he was named in the Panama Papers, de Guindos took on Soria's brief alongside his current responsibilities. De Guindos continued to be in charge of the newly expanded portfolio in the second Rajoy Government from November 2016 on.

In January 2014, de Guindos was elected co-chair (alongside Anders Borg, later Valdis Dombrovskis) of the EPP Economic and Financial Affairs Ministers Meeting, which gathers the center-right European People's Party (EPP) ministers ahead of meetings of the Economic and Financial Affairs Council (ECOFIN. In August 2014, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who also belongs to the EPP political bloc, gave him her backing in his bid to succeed Jeroen Dijsselbloem as leading the Eurogroup from mid-2015; Securing the Eurogroup post for de Guindos was a key political goal for Rajoy, who hoped that his appointment will cement perceptions both at home and abroad that Spain has emerged from crisis and can be taken seriously once again at international level. Meanwhile, on 5 June 2015, Dijsselbloem announced he would seek a second term, prompting de Guindos saying he would mount a challenge. At a Eurogroup meeting in July 2015, Dijsselbloem picked up 10 votes, with the remaining countries subsequently deciding to vote unanimously for his second term.

De Guindos, who is married with two children, is a practicing Roman Catholic. In September 2014, he attended the beatification of one of the leaders of the conservative Opus Dei movement. Yet in the press he has said he supports the right of gay people to marry and did not support the government's 2014 proposal to outlaw abortion.

In 2012, de Guindos and Rajoy initially blocked the appointment of Yves Mersch to succeed José Manuel González Paramo as member of the Executive Board of the European Central Bank, instead putting forward ECB General Counsel Antonio Sáinz de Vicuña y Barroso for the role. At the time, analysts said that if Spain had nominated de Guindo's predecessor Elena Salgado for the board, she would have been a shoo-in instead of Mersch who was ultimately elected.

From 2011, de Guindos worked for the board of Mare Nostrum Bank, which was formed in 2010 from a merger of savings banks, until he resigned to become part of the Rajoy government led by Mariano Rajoy in December of that year.

In 2006, de Guindos was appointed advisor for Lehman Brothers in Europe and director of its subsidiary bank in Spain and Portugal, where he remained until the collapse and declaration of bankruptcy of the latter in 2008. Subsequently, de Guindos became responsible for the finance division of Pricewaterhouse Coopers. Finally, and in a largely ceremonial role, he was appointed as a professor of finance at the PwC and IE Financial Sector Center of IE Business School (Madrid), between 2010–2012, before joining as a minister. He was also a board member of Endesa SA, a Spanish power company.

In late 1996, de Guindos was appointed General Director for Economic and Competitiveness. He has served on the board of Renfe between 1997 and 2000 and the Official Credit Institute from 2000 to 2002. In May 2000 was appointed Secretary in General for Economy, and State Industrial Holdings Company. He was Secretary of State for Economic Affairs under Minister for Economic Affairs Rodrigo Rato in the last government led by José María Aznar and was succeeded by David Vegara. In this capacity, he was in charge of overseeing Spain's entry into the eurozone.

Luis de Guindos Jurado (born 16 January 1960) is a Spanish politician who currently serves as the Vice President of the European Central Bank. He was the Minister of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness of Spain between 2011 and 2018.