UPDATE 2-Mexico Congress approves central bank deputy chief

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By Miguel Angel Gutierrez

MEXICO CITY, July 4 (Reuters) - Mexico's Congress approved former banking regulator Roberto del Cueto as a central bank deputy governor on Wednesday, filling a space on its monetary policy board that had been empty for months.

Mexico's central bank board is made up of one governor, currently Guillermo Ortiz, and four deputy governors. All contribute to the bank's monthly monetary policy decisions.

Keen to know how del Cueto will influence monetary policy- making, investors are trying to ascertain whether he will take a tougher or weaker stance on inflation than the other members of the board.

The central bank in recent years has kept inflation in check with a series of rate-hike campaigns, winning investors' trust and allowing the government to issue more long-term bonds.

While del Cueto worked in the central bank between 1973 and 1994, eventually heading its banking regulation division, he then spent more than a decade outside the institution in the private sector and academia.

Since President Felipe Calderon took office last year, del Cueto had headed the National Securities and Banking Commission, the country's financial markets regulator. He also wrote regular newspaper columns.

"There's nothing there in his background that we could really pick up to think that he is going to be hawkish or dovish," said Jonathan Heath, chief economist for Mexico at HSBC.

After working in the central bank, del Cueto took jobs at banks Banamex and Scotiabank. A lawyer by training, he also taught law at Mexico City university.

Calderon's first choice for the post, former deputy finance minister Carlos Hurtado, was rejected in March as opposition legislators accused him of increasing spending on government posts under Vicente Fox's administration. (Additional reporting by Jason Lange)