The ICF abandons the idea of obtaining a bank card: "We don't need it."

Barcelona"The ICF does not need to obtain a bank license." The new CEO of the Catalan Institute of Finance, Jordi Òliva, has stated that the institution will not re-attempt to obtain the license that would allow Catalonia to have a public bank. This change comes after the ICF attempted to obtain it last year. by submitting the corresponding application to the European Central Bank and the Bank of Spain.

Months later, the Bank of Spain he opposed citing technical reasons and the lack of a favorable report from the European Commission on any potential state aid. Thus, the great Catalan objective of obtaining the banking license which would allow it to be considered a bank with all the Eres and you went bankrupt. The ICF," he concluded. "If the Government wants to do something, it won't be through the ICF."

On the other hand, Òliva also assessed the €5.4 million guarantees submitted to the Court of Auditors. It should be recalled that these guarantees had been demanded from some thirty former senior officials of the Generalitat for their activities during the Process years. The current head of the ICF, who replaced Victor Guardiola a few months ago, considered that "the methods used to approve these guarantees were not the most appropriate." However, he did emphasize that over time it was proven that the "purpose" and "substance" of these guarantees were correct.

Òliva, who was previously director of institutional business at CaixaBank, also emphasized that the problem arose because "the insurance policies that traditionally covered these guarantees stopped doing so around 2017." In fact, this issue caused significant divisions within the ICF board of directors. Víctor Guardiola himself abstained from voting, which angered the government itself.

The ICF also presented its results for the first half of the year. Between January and June, the entity lent a total of €180 million to 234 borrowers, a figure slightly lower than last year (€186 million). However, although the level of loans is somewhat lower, the number of companies financed has increased from 760 to 234, meaning the average amount has increased. The head of the ICF explained that this is due to the end of the COVID funds. This drop has caused the average amount per transaction to soar this year by 174%, from €213,000 to €584,000.

In venture capital, the entity has committed a total of €19 million to third-party fund managers (€15 million to the Suma Capital fund and €4 million to Bonsai Partners). In addition, 4.5 million euros have been invested directly through the purchase of shares in various companies. Furthermore, Òliva explained that its non-performing loan ratio (7.2%) is higher than that of private entities, justifying this by saying that "its function is to help those not covered by these entities." With this data, the CEO emphasized that "the ICF is doing well" and asserted, with a laugh, that "they don't cost the Government any money."