The banking sector distributes record dividends in a climate of union unrest

BarcelonaBBVA will distribute a dividend of 37 cents per share to its shareholders, the highest in its history. According to the entity, the operation will be effective on October 15 and will involve a total payout of 2 billion euros. This increase, 16% more than the interim remuneration of the previous year, will be charged against the 2026 results, a fiscal year that, for now, is breaking all records. During the first half of the year, BBVA achieved a net profit of 6.051 billion euros, 10% more than in the same period last year.

This announcement comes a few days after one of its main competitors, Banco Santander, announced an interim cash dividend of 12.7 cents per share, charged against the 2026 results, 10% more than the previous year's interim dividend. It will be paid on November 2. Santander obtained a record profit of 7.328 billion during the first semester of this year, 15% more.

All of this has fueled the spirits of the unions, which are already preparing mobilizations. The CCOO services federation, the trade union with the most representation in the Spanish banking and financial sector, considers that it is time to demand that the banks "sit down to negotiate immediately concrete measures and firm commitments to improve the working conditions of their staff." The union has called for demonstrations and protests on October 15 and November 4 in front of the main financial institutions in a dozen cities.

The union points out that the financial sector is recording record levels of profit and profitability. The major banks of the Ibex-35, it adds, earned more than 36 billion euros in 2025, nearly 93 million a day, "historic profits that coexist with a work climate that is increasingly deteriorating due to the growing commercial pressure suffered by workers." A few days ago, CCOO already denounced an "unbearable work climate" at the institutions.

In a macro-survey conducted by CCOO before the summer and included in the report The voice of the workforce, it collected "widespread unrest in the sector and the need to introduce profound changes in working conditions." Added to this diagnosis is the report The financial sector. The time is now, presented on September 17, which gathers the main proposals of the trade union center and which has already been transferred to the employers' associations to be debated in the corresponding negotiation spaces.

In addition to BBVA and Santander, CaixaBank, which earned 3.203 billion until June, 8.5% more, announced an interim dividend of between 961 and 1.281 billion, equivalent to 30%-40% of the profit for the first half of the year, within the framework of its commitment to distribute between 50% and 60% of the annual profit among shareholders. And Banco Sabadell distributed the extraordinary dividend from the sale of its British subsidiary to Santander for about 2.5 billion. The entity, smaller in size and focused on the Spanish market, earned 971 million in the first half of this year, 0.5% less.