The big Spanish banks close the door to backing Enrique Riquelme's candidacy for Real Madrid

MadridThe refusal of Spanish big banks to back Enrique Riquelme's candidacy for Real Madrid's presidency has pushed the businessman to seek other financial entities, to the point that with only a few hours left until the deadline to present a project with substance – this Saturday, May 23rd at midnight – negotiations remain open. This is the case of Andbank Spain – the Spanish subsidiary of the Andorran bank Andbank – with whom Riquelme is finalizing a guarantee, according to financial sources speaking to ARA. The businessman, however, has also looked across the Atlantic and has knocked on the door of Scotiabank (Canada), as reported by Expansión.. This bank is not unknown to Riquelme as it was part of the firms that financed the purchase by Cox, the energy company of which he is president, of Iberdrola's subsidiary in Mexico.

Riquelme needs the guarantee of financial entities to comply with one of the requirements to run for elections at the white club: to have a net worth of 187 million euros (15% of Real Madrid's budget, as required by the club's statutes). Added to this economic capacity is that the candidate must have Spanish nationality – Riquelme is from Cox, a town in Alicante – and have been a member of Real Madrid for at least twenty years, which he also meets.

With the refusal of 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 entities (should negotiations be successful, one entity would be Andorran and the other Canadian) to be able to demonstrate 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. Both BBVA and Banco Santander have declined to comment.

For the entities, this means providing a financial product – a guarantee – for the money that the interested party must justify (in Riquelme's case, almost 200 million euros). If things go wrong, the guaranteed person must return the guarantee under the agreed terms.

The president of the energy company Cox sent a letter this Thursday to the Electoral Board of Real Madrid stating 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 he makes [about Real Madrid], I have full confidence in the [Cox] management team," he told the company's shareholders. This same week, the energy company promoted Riquelme's number two, Nacho Moreno, current CEO of Cox, to whom executive powers have been granted. to Riquelme's number two, Nacho Moreno, current CEO of Cox, to whom executive powers have been granted.

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

Awaiting the list

However, it is not yet officially known who will accompany this 37-year-old businessman in this battle for the presidency of Real Madrid. Sources consulted by ARA and familiar with the process indicate that he has "struggled" to tie down relevant names. Riquelme has been searching among the ranks of business friends and in the predictions, the name of David Mesonero has appeared, 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 the Latin American country.