The large Spanish banking sector refuses to endorse Enrique Riquelme's candidacy for Real Madrid

MadridThe refusal of the Spanish big banks to back Enrique Riquelme's candidacy for the presidency of Real Madrid has pushed the businessman to knock on the doors of foreign financial institutions, and with only a few hours left before the deadline to present a project with substance expires – he has until this Saturday, May 23, at midnight – negotiations remain open. This is the case of Andbank España – the Spanish subsidiary of the Andorran bank Andbank –, with whom Riquelme was finalizing a guarantee this Friday afternoon, according to financial sources speaking to ARA. However, the businessman has also looked across the Atlantic and has knocked on the door of Scotiabank (Canada), as reported by Expansión. This firm is not unknown to Riquelme, as it was part of the banks that financed the purchase by Cox, the energy company he chairs, of the subsidiary that Iberdrola had in Mexico.

Riquelme needs a bank pre-guarantee to meet one of the requirements to run for elections at the white club: to have a personal net worth of 187 million euros (15% of Real Madrid's budget, as required by the club's statutes). With the refusal of the Spanish banks, specifically Banco Santander and BBVA, as reported by El País and confirmed by ARA, the businessman has sought the support of foreign financial institutions to be able to claim that he has this economic capacity. It will, therefore, be thanks to foreign banks that he will be able to move forward with the candidacy that he himself would lead. However, Real Madrid's statutes also require that the guaranteeing entity be registered with the Bank of Spain. This is why Riquelme has not approached Andbank's parent company, but rather its subsidiary in Spain. Both BBVA and Banco Santander have declined to comment.

For the institutions, the pre-guarantee involves providing a financial product for the money that the interested party must justify (in Riquelme's case, almost 200 million euros). In any case, the guarantee is only assumed (becomes definitive) if the candidacy is valid and wins the elections.

Other requirements

To this economic capacity are added other conditions: holding Spanish nationality –Riquelme is from Cox, a town in Alicante– and having been a member of Real Madrid for at least twenty years. Florentino Pérez's opponent fulfills both.

The president of the energy company Cox sent a letter this Thursday to the Electoral Board of Real Madrid in which he expressed his intention to run in the elections for the white club, the first since 2006, but also the first in which Florentino Pérez would have an opponent. Riquelme, in fact, referred to it again this Friday during the general shareholders' meeting of Cox held in Seville: "Regardless of the final decision I make [about Real Madrid], I have full confidence in the management team [of Cox]," he told the company's shareholders. This same week, the energy company has promoted Riquelme's number two, Nacho Moreno, current CEO of Cox, who has been given executive powers.

The energy company has made a stratospheric leap since its inception in 2014. Riquelme explained this Friday that in 2025 the group reached "record levels" of income and exceeded 1,100 million euros in turnover. However, the media spotlight on the energy company has been particularly intense since it acquired Iberdrola's subsidiary in Mexico, a deal that was only closed this April for 3,700 million dollars. "It has been when it has gained visibility," say sources from the energy sector. "It represents a change in scale," Riquelme acknowledged this Friday.

Pending the list

However, it has not yet officially transpired who will accompany this 37-year-old businessman in this battle for the presidency of Real Madrid. Business sources consulted by ARA indicate that it "has been difficult" to secure relevant names. Riquelme has been searching among the ranks of friendly businessmen, and the name of David Mesonero has appeared in the forecasts, a senior executive at Iberdrola with whom Riquelme, in addition to a friendship, has precisely sealed the purchase of the electric company's subsidiary in Mexico.