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FINANCIAL SERVICESSpain’s financial system is composed of credit market, stock market, monetary market andfutures and option markets. The Bank of Spain acts as a settlement agent; it is the central bankoperator in the country. Moreover, there are credit institutions that are mainly national orinternational banks, savings banks and savings unions. There are also the official creditinstitutions, investment institutions such as investment societies, investment funds or venturecapital societies, market brokers and assurance or reassurance companies.The Public Administration mainly intervenes in the monetary market and in the credit and stockmarket. Its powers are limited to the control in the access of the different agents, as well as forthe control of the different operations. The institution in charge of these functions is the SpanishNational Securities Market Commission (CNMV).ESTABLISHING A BUSINESSInvesting in Spain by foreign companies is connected to the general regime of liberalisationwhich can only be suspended by the Council of Ministers in those cases in which the investmentcan affect the exercise of public powers, public order, security or public health measures. It isconsidered as a “foreign investor”, the non-resident physical or legal person, domiciled abroad orwith his principal residence outside Spain.Before setting-up a Spanish corporation or limited liability company, formation of a SpanishBranch or entering in any other kind of business venture the foreign investor must note that theapplicable Spanish legislation requires that any individual or legal entity with economic orprofessional interests in Spain, or involved in a relevant way for tax purposes, must hold a taxidentification number (in the case of legal entities) or a foreigner identity number (for individuals)a N.I.F./N.I.E. respectively. Such a identification number shall be usually obtained beforeexecuting the relevant transaction.It is also important to underline the different regulations in force in Spain dealing with dataprotection and intellectual property. Data protection is regulated by the Act 15/1999 whichprotects data relating to individuals and in relation to their personal and familiar spheres. At thesame time there is the Spanish Agency for the Protection of Personal Data (AEPD), a publicentity which ensures the compliance of the abovementioned regulation and controls the access,rectification, opposition and cancelation of personal data held by third parties.Royal Decree 1/1996 approves the Act for Intellectual Property which protects the copyright ofSpanish, EU Member state, and third-state authors with regular residence in Spain and, if they8