The long and winding road to the Catalan public bank

BarcelonaOne of the songs from the final stage of The Beatles was The long and winding road (The long and winding road), on the album Let it be, the last one published, even though it was recorded before Abbey Road. Surely the title and parts of the lyrics come to mind for Alícia Romero's Ministry of Economy: "You left me standing here. A long, long time ago. Don't leave me waiting. Guide me to your door." Not only because of the difficulties she has in approving the first budgets of Salvador Illa's legislature, which also, but because of the obstacles in achieving another objective pursued by the different Catalan governments, which is to make the Institut Català de Finances (ICF) a true public bank to cover areas that private financial entities do not reach, or barely do.

Last summer, the government authorized the future establishment of a commercial company by the ICF. I sayfuture because it is pending the decision of the European Central Bank (ECB), which has the final say and is not very keen on allowing the creation of new entities, not only public but also small ones. Despite having a more complicit Bank of Spain than on previous occasions, with José Luis Escrivá as governor, the European supervisory body, the definitive authority, could have less synergy with Catalan interests, as it prefers large entities and, if possible, opts for mergers between those from different European countries.

The step taken by the Catalan executive last summer meant fulfilling another of the conditions demanded by ERC, as was the collection of 100% of taxes, starting with personal income tax – which for the moment has been shelved –. The possibility of obtaining a banking license is also an unknown, although the Government maintains hope.

One of the advantages of obtaining a banking license is being able to diversify financing. Currently, everything depends on the will of the European Investment Bank (EIB), chaired by the former economic vice-president of the socialist government Nadia Calviño. And the objective is to be able to access the markets and the ECB itself, for example. This would give the ICF more muscle to support the business and social fabric of Catalonia and strategic actions in areas such as social housing, the green transition, or the commitment to industry. In a few months, the ECB will determine if the road gets longer and, as the song says, the Generalitat continues "waiting here".