Less bureaucracy, more administrative agility, and facilitating urban planning and land transformation. This is the recipe from the National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC) to increase housing supply and, therefore, reduce housing prices.

Changes at CaixaBank. The long-standing Director of Communication and Institutional Relations, Maria Lluïsa Martínez Gistau, is stepping down. She has been at the helm of the entity's communication for 25 years and for the last 10 years has also been a member of the bank's management committee. Her position will be filled by Jordi Soldevila, who until now was in charge of the entity's real estate business. In addition, the Spanish government has rushed to find a name to replace Cani Fernández to chair the National Commission of Markets and Competition (CNMC). The Council of Ministers approved proposing Juan José Ganuza Fernández to assume the position.

Revolution in the Communication and Institutional Relations department of CaixaBank. The historic Maria Lluïsa Martínez Gistau steps down from leading this department after a quarter of a century, and will be replaced by Jordi Soldevila, until now heading the entity's real estate business as CEO of BuildingCenter and Director of Real Estate for Repossessed Assets at CaixaBank. This was notified this Friday by the entity chaired by Tomàs Muniesa to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV).

Catalonia has a housing supply problem. This was highlighted by economist Carme Poveda, director of the Economic Memory of Catalonia 2025, a study that Catalan chambers of commerce have been producing for 61 years. This year the report includes a monograph on housing with articles by new experts. According to Poveda, "there is consensus" that there is a supply problem. In this regard, he highlighted that since 2021, 200,000 new homes have been created in Catalonia, while only 62,000 new dwellings have been completed.

Catalonia had 51,305 tourist homes in May, 5,546 fewer than a year earlier, that is, 9.7% less, according to data from the experimental statistics on tourist homes from the National Statistics Institute (INE) published this Wednesday. The number of places in tourist homes in the Principality in May this year was 284,653, 7.8% less than in the same month of the previous year, when there were 308,770 places available.

The British fund Cap Capital will be the owner of the productive unit of the Barcelona-based bridal wear company Pronovias, which had entered into receivership, an operation resolved by Commercial Court number 9 of Barcelona, as reported by the Catalan company in a statement. This new phase aims at the American market, where Pronovias wants to increase its presence, as well as strengthen its positioning in Europe and introduce new technologies and artificial intelligence. Cap Capital's offer retains 552 Pronovias employees, of which 446 are in Spain. For now, the new ownership has already chosen the person who is to bring order to the company to relaunch it.

The war in the Middle East that began on February 28 with attacks by the United States and Israel on Iran has, obviously, had an economic impact. After four months, and with the agreement between the United States and Iran, it is difficult to quantify the total cost of the war in economic terms. But what is clear is that the impact has fallen directly on citizens' pockets and has weakened economic growth in many areas of the world, especially in Asia-Pacific, with greater dependence on Gulf oil.

Spaniards have saved an average of 10 euros on their electricity bills during the energy crisis of recent months caused by the war in Iran, according to the latest study by Ember, the independent energy think tank that advocates for energy transition and electrification. According to Ember's analysis, the savings on Spaniards' electricity bills have been possible thanks to the deployment of renewables and, therefore, the reduced use of gas in electricity generation.

Very busy week at the helm of various institutions and companies. The Court of Auditors, the Mobile World Capital, Abacus and the regulatory council of DO Cava have changed their leadership with a strong female presence. On the other hand, Renault Spain already has a replacement for the Catalan Josep Maria Recasens, the brand new CEO of Indra.

Closing the three nuclear power plants in Catalonia (Ascó I, Ascó II, and Vandellòs II) would cost Catalan industry 280 million euros per year. This is the main conclusion of a study by the consultancy firm Deloitte, presented this Tuesday at the Cercle d'Economia in Barcelona. For the whole of Spain, which is less dependent on nuclear power than Catalonia, the cost would be around 1.4 billion euros. The report is based on the premise that energy costs represent 25% of industry's operating profit, and therefore, the more electricity saved, the more competitive industry will be.

Indra has been restructuring its top management for several months, with recent changes in president and CEO, and the incorporation of new high-level directives. This reinforcement of the technology and defense company's top level also reaches Catalonia, where the company chaired by Àngel Simón has appointed a new territorial director, Enric Blasco. Furthermore, a lifelong banker, José Ignacio Goirigolzarri – he was CEO of BBVA, president of Bankia, and president of CaixaBank – is making the leap into the fashion world as a new independent director of Inditex, the company controlled by Amancio Ortega which owns brands such as Zara, Pull&Bear, Massimo Dutti, and Bershka, among others.

La Sagrada Família is a Catholic church, a monument, and a tourist attraction. But it is also one of the economic engines of the city of Barcelona, both for the business it indirectly generates, for example through tourism, and also for its direct business volume, for the investments it makes, and for the jobs it creates. The figures are clear: in 2025, the basilica closed with generated income of 134.5 million euros. A turnover that has been growing in recent years.

A judge in Terrassa has sentenced a businessman to two and a half years in prison for the death of an employee, a truck driver, whose tire burst while he was driving on the highway, causing him to lose control and crash into a sign, resulting in his death. According to the sentence, the cause of the accident was the poor condition of the vehicle's tires.

Changes in the governing bodies or management positions of companies are not only driven by new hires. Sometimes, departures gain more weight. In just a few days, two of the main Ibex-35 companies have experienced this firsthand: Naturgy and Indra. In fact, a question mark hangs over the composition of their boards of directors due to the departure in Indra's case of the Escribano brothers, who held 14.3% of the company's share capital, while at Naturgy, it was the English investment fund CVC (13.8%) that divested. Other musical chairs are added to these movements.

Xavier Berneda, executive director and co-owner of the Catalan sneaker manufacturer Munich, receives the ARA shortly before giving a talk at a meeting of the Catalan Fashion Cluster (Modacc) at Món Sant Benet, in Bages. As expected, he wears the X symbol on his feet and jacket, which is also sported by many of the collaborators who greet him.

Endesa, through its subsidiary e-distribución networks, will invest 264.5 million euros in the electricity distribution network of Catalonia during 2026, a figure that represents an increase of 25.6% compared to last year, as reported by the company this Friday. This investment is the maximum allowed by current regulation.

Musical chairs in the Catalan technology sector. The former CEO of Cellnex – the main telecommunications tower company –, Tobías Martínez, will move to lead Openchip, while Pedro Mier will take over the direction of Open Cosmos. Furthermore, the president of Indra, Àngel Simón, continues with the revolution at the company's top and is already looking for a new CEO, who will possibly be announced this Tuesday, after dismissing José Vicente de los Mozos – seemingly in agreement with the Spanish government –, who is the main shareholder of the technology and defense company.

The manager Asabys Partners, a leading firm in life sciences investment, will launch a new investment fund of up to 120 million euros, primarily aimed at the technological transfer from universities and research centers to create new companies. Asabys has been selected in the Deep Start call, promoted by the Centre for the Development of Industrial Technology and Innovation (CDTI) –of the Spanish government– in collaboration with the European Investment Fund (EIF).

The executive director of the International Energy Agency (IEA), Fatih Birol, warned this Monday that the cushion offered by commercial reserves accumulated before the war in the Middle East and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz will end in a matter of weeks. Reserves "are depleting very rapidly," Birol noted in statements to the press collected by Efe during the first day of the G7 Finance Ministers' meeting in Paris.

After Ángel Escribano left the presidency of Indra and his family exited the capital of the company now chaired by Àngel Simón, both Indra itself and EM&M, of the Escribanos, are strengthening their respective top management. Another notable change of the week is Ramon Alsina's promotion to the presidency of BonÀrea, replacing his father, Jaume Alsina.