A few days ago, the governor of the Bank of Spain, José Luis Escrivá, warned that housing is a true national emergency. He is not wrong. This problem, which is a growing concern for citizens, has become the main source of growth in social inequality. Whichever data you look at, the diagnosis is always the same: there is more demand than supply, expensive and practically inaccessible for a large part of the population. And of the supply that exists, some is in the hands of non-residents or are apartments used for tourist rentals. In total, there are about 900,000 across the country, according to data from the Bank of Spain.

Catalonia leads the Next Generation European funds allocated to autonomous communities, with a total of 10.180 billion euros since their launch in 2021, according to the latest data registered by the Department of Economy. This figure, announced by the President of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, during an event at the Palau de Pedralbes on the impact of these resources in Catalonia, has allowed, he explained, "to drive an economic, social, and environmental transformation that has contributed to economic growth".

Catalonia has many assets, talent and growth, but it fails in wealth redistribution. It is a repeated diagnosis that has re-emerged during the Forbes Catalonia Economic Summit, organized by the magazine that periodically publishes the ranking of the richest people, at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. In an analysis from many perspectives, and with the participation of consultants, politicians, entrepreneurs and executives, the great values of the country have been highlighted, but also the pending issues.

Veolia, the French multinational that controls 70% of Aigües de Barcelona, plans to invest around 1 billion euros in Spain until 2030, an average of 200 million per year, according to the company's head in the State, Daniel Tugues.

When he was young, Pedro Escudero (Astorga, 1975) was on track to become a professional tennis player. He is from the same generation as Carles Moyà and Albert Costa. But a serious injury forced him to give up racquet sports. He went to the United States to recover and there he earned a scholarship to study in the country and stay. Since then, he has accumulated three decades as an investor on Wall Street, in recent years with his own fund with a return above that of the S&P 500. He is now launching a fund in Spain "to democratize elite investment" with which he plans to raise up to 2 billion euros, starting with stakes of 500 euros. The subscription period has begun once approved by the Luxembourg regulator with authorization to be marketed in Spain.

Until the return of the headquarters of Banc Sabadell last year, Caixa Guissona was the second Catalan financial entity, surpassed only by Caixa Enginyers. Today it is the third, with a classic banking model, which keeps and lends money and with little weight of services and, therefore, of commissions. With a network of five offices, results that grew by 23% last year, to 19.3 million euros; the cooperative of the BonÀrea Agrupa group has its sights set on Girona, the only province where they are not present, explains the general director, Martí Bravo (Sant Cugat del Vallès, 1992), who works at the entity, where he started as an office employee, 11 years ago.

There is a long way to go in male-female parity in company management. Half of the population is still underrepresented. But despite still low levels, the situation is slightly better in Catalan family businesses. This is highlighted in a study promoted by the Catalan Association of Family Business (ASCEF), according to which, companies of this type "are clearly more inclusive of women".

New change at the top of El Corte Inglés. The board of directors of the department store company, chaired by Cristina Álvarez, has appointed Javier Catena as CEO. The senior executive, who had left the company during Gastón Bottazzini's tenure as CEO, from 2024 to 2025, returned as operations director, which includes the areas of supply chain and real estate logistics, the position he currently held. Since the end of the pandemic, the department store company has changed its top executive five times.

The president of Pimec, Antoni Cañete, took advantage of the presence of the Minister of Industry, Jordi Hereu, at an event of this employers' association in Rubí to call for a law aimed at preventing obstacles that hinder the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). This law to promote business growth should serve to encourage SMEs to gain size, productivity, and competitiveness. Hereu, who in the same event advocated for increasing the weight of local industry and trade, argued that public policies should be directed towards business growth, strengthening the size, productivity, and competitiveness of the SME fabric to face global challenges.

Aigües de Barcelona earned last year 48.6 million euros, with an increase of 69.9% compared to the previous year, according to the results published by the company. The company that manages the integral water cycle for 40 municipalities in the metropolitan area of Barcelona and its surroundings – a population of more than three million inhabitants – reached in 2025 a turnover of 637.3 million euros, with an increase of 7.98%. Of this amount, 400 million, which represented an increase of 118%, were due to water sales, with a consumption of 156.4 cubic hectometers, 5.46% more than in 2024. The average tariff increased in March of last year by an average of 5.95%, although for most users it was limited to the CPI of December 2024 (2.95%) and for the rest of consumers it was 6.72%.

The National Commission on Markets and Competition (CNMC) has decided to open disciplinary proceedings against six large banks for alleged anti-competitive practices. These are the six entities listed on the Ibex: Bankinter, Banco Santander, BBVA, Unicaja, CaixaBank, and Banc Sabadell. The body chaired by Cani Fernández, whose six-year non-renewable term ends this Tuesday, is investigating whether these entities engaged in anti-competitive practices related to mortgage policy and, more specifically, the so-called mortgage war, contrary to Article 1 of the competition defense law and Article 101 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union.

Enric Cabestany (Barcelona, 1981) is a restless entrepreneur. He makes the most of the 24 hours of the day, but tries to balance it with family life. For this reason, he has left the position of global vice president of marketing and editorial and general director of the Barcelona office of FunPlus, a Swiss video game multinational. Before that, he had a professional journey in Latin America and Silicon Valley. From here arose his relationship with apps, video games... and he made great friends in the world's technology capital. He then became involved with Asian tech companies and was in charge of the landing in Barcelona of the Chinese mobile video game company IGG in 2018. Today he participates in numerous technology projects, two of which are still linked to the world of video games.

Since Alberto Palatchi Ribera sold Pronovias to BC Capital in 2017 for 550 million euros, the company has not stopped accumulating losses. So much so that it ended up declaring voluntary bankruptcy on May 18. This after passing through more hands: in 2022, after five years of red numbers, it ended up owned by the creditor funds led by Bain (90%) and MV Credit (10%), with whom the company has reached insolvency.

Elon Musk is the first person with a fortune of one trillion (with a t) dollars, equivalent to all the wealth generated by a prosperous country like Switzerland in a year or, as Oxfam states,, as all that 3.8 billion people have, 46% of the world's poorest population. The stock market launch of SpaceX, a company owned by the magnate that will benefit from the privatization of the aerospace business, is born with a record valuation.

Pronovias begins a new phase with the fund Cap Capital as owner, which is the one that has been chosen in the selection process by the commercial court number 9 of Barcelona. The British fund was the last to enter the bidding for the company founded by the Palatchi family, which was immersed in insolvency proceedings.

Hotels Bestprice has culminated its incentive plan through shares, which includes chambermaids and reception and maintenance staff, in addition to executives. The Catalan hotel chain's program, which extends to practically the entire workforce, has been promoted by the board of directors "as a formula for recognizing the commitment, effort, and extraordinary contribution of professionals who have played a relevant role in the company's evolution in recent years," according to a statement. According to company sources, this measure benefits around 80% of the workforce, which is who could benefit from it. The only requirement to do so is to have been working at the company for one year or more.

Josep Sánchez Llibre (Vilassar de Mar, 1949), re-elected president of Foment del Treball less than a month ago, prioritizes the fight against absenteeism and plans to have a white paper with solution proposals ready by the first fortnight of September. He already has the list of professionals who will prepare it and explains it in this interview with ARA, conducted during a break at the Annual Meeting of the Cercle d'Economia.

The growth of the Catalan and Spanish economy is undeniable. And future estimates, despite a slowdown, confirm that we will continue to be the champions of GDP growth. The President of the Spanish Government, Pedro Sánchez, did not fail to mention this during his speech at the annual meeting of the Cercle d'Economia in Barcelona, where he surprised the audience by announcing the steps to present the State budgets for 2027, which sound more like an electoral program than a real possibility.

Spain gained 13,100 millionaires last year, reaching 259,700, which represents an increase of 5.3%, according to the latest World Wealth Report by the consulting firm Capgemini. This category includes individuals with investable assets of more than one million dollars (equivalent to 860,000 euros today), excluding their primary residence, collectibles, and consumer durables.

Sercortel has surpassed the barrier of one hundred managed hotels this 2026. It works to invoice 360 million in 2029, compared to the 200 with which it will close 2026. José Rodríguez (Barcelona, 1967) is the CEO of this company, which is in the hands of the Landon society, belonging to the Gallardo family, main shareholders of Almirall. It has no debt thanks to the management contract model, enjoys high occupancy rates all year round, and in 2027 will study expanding abroad. Rodríguez explains to ARA the keys to growth since before the pandemic – since then it will have multiplied turnover by 4.4 – and analyzes the challenges and strengths of the current tourism industry.