The Catalan government buys half of the Bank of Spain building in Barcelona

BarcelonaThe Catalan government will buy half of the Bank of Spain building in Plaça Catalunya in Barcelona. The transaction will cost the Catalan government €58.4 million, plus an additional €36.9 million for renovations before it can move in, as announced this Friday. The VanguardThe acquisition of part of the building would allow the Catalan government to save approximately 4.5 million euros annually. The Governor of the Bank of Spain, José Luis Escrivá, had publicly admitted in the past that the bank's branch in the center of Barcelona was underutilized and had opened the door to its sale to the Generalitat (Catalan government), which is itself trying to increase its portfolio of owned offices.

Escrivá received the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, and the Mayor of Barcelona, ​​Jaume Collboni, at the bank's headquarters this Friday for the presentation of the bank's Department of Experimentation and Applied Technologies Laboratory (Delta), which will be located in the building. This department will be dedicated to research in the field of artificial intelligence geared towards the banking and finance sectors. Delta will employ around thirty workers, mostly specializing in computer science, finance, and telecommunications, who will be in place before the end of 2026. Collboni stated that the transfer of a large part of the bank's headquarters to the Generalitat will allow for improvements in the city's historic center. The mayor noted that, "in the eyes of the residents of Ciutat Vella," the building was "like a mysterious safe" that will now become "a space of historical transformation" for the city center, allowing its inhabitants "to live and work" in the district. The Catalan government will therefore occupy seven floors of the building, totaling 13,000 square meters. In fact, the headquarters are located on the corner of Plaça Catalunya and Avinguda del Portal de l'Àngel, the street with the most expensive commercial space in Spain. Despite this, the building has no retail space, housing only offices—there were also residences for executives of the bank—which are currently largely empty and will be repurposed with the acquisition by a department or agency of the Catalan administration. Although this represents a loss of square footage, Escrivá stated in an interview with TV3 that the institution he heads intends for its Barcelona headquarters to be "particularly large." Escrivá has stated that the sale is "the result of institutional dialogue" with the Catalan government and the Barcelona City Council, which will allow for "opening up to other public uses" and strengthening "the Bank of Spain's ties with Catalonia." "I am proud that the Bank of Spain is establishing Delta in Barcelona and that we will share the building with the Generalitat," added Illa, who emphasized that the research center demonstrates Catalonia's potential in the fields of technology and innovation.

Agreement for financial training

In addition to the transfer of part of the building, Escrivá and Illa also signed a protocol to promote financial education, both in schools—through the development of educational materials—and for the general public. "The essential purpose is for everyone to have the necessary tools to understand the economy in their daily lives and to make clearer, more confident, and more autonomous decisions" about their personal finances, Escrivá stated regarding the agreement with the Catalan government. Escrivá added that the educational materials will have to serve to "support professional training" with "a neutral pedagogical approach oriented toward the public interest." "A well-educated citizenry is a freer citizenry," Illa said.