The large Spanish banking sector continues to defend its actions in the mortgage market despite the investigation opened in June by the National Markets and Competition Commission (CNMC). According to financial sources consulted by the Efe agency, the arguments put forward by the supervisory body have "very little basis" and recall that the Competition Commission already dismissed a complaint against the four major state banks – Santander, BBVA, CaixaBank, and Banco Sabadell – for the low profitability of their client deposits.

Less housing supply and, therefore, rising prices. These are the forecasts for the housing market made by BBVA Research (the research service of the blue bank) for 2026. Thus, the bank forecasts that purchase and sale transactions will fall by 7.3% in the State as a whole, while prices will rise by an average of 12% in Spain.

The creative project PongoTodo was born in Barcelona a year and eight months ago at the hands of three young people with an idea and a desire to start a business. At just 21 years old, its three partners have managed to consolidate a business project that has been recognized with 'La Base Awards Young Entrepreneurs 2026', the initiative that BBVA and ScrapWorld promote with the aim of supporting young entrepreneurship and accompanying creative projects that are transforming consumption models, fashion, and digital culture.

The implementation of new artificial intelligence tools in the Spanish banking sector is not impacting the staff of the large state entities, for now. With the exception of Banco Santander —which has cut almost 8,400 jobs globally over the last twelve months— the other five Ibex entities have added, over the last year, up to one hundred employees. According to the semi-annual income statements presented in recent weeks to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), the group formed by CaixaBank, Banc Sabadell, BBVA, Bankinter, and Unicaja had 99,539 employees at the end of June, slightly above the 99,439 registered at the same time last year.

As a result of this alliance, BBVA became in February the first bank in Spain to promote the adoption of AI among small and medium-sized enterprises. The initiative has been very well received and more than 12,000 companies have already joined the ChatGPT Business program, which includes two ChatGPT licenses and specialized training content.

BBVA continues to grow alone after having turned the page on the failed takeover bid about Banco Sabadell. The entity registered a record profit of 6,051 million euros during the first half of 2026, 10% more than the same period last year at constant exchange rates, that is, eliminating the effects of currency devaluation or appreciation. According to the bank, the improvement is due to the evolution of recurring income, driven mainly by a 17.7% increase in lending.

Entrepreneurship is much more than having a good idea. It's turning it into a real project. It's taking risks, overcoming difficulties, and making decisions. It's taking a step forward. And, above all, it's knowing with whom to take it. Transforming an idea into a viable business is one of the challenges many entrepreneurs face, and often the path is not easy.

News on Inditex's board of directors. The Galician fashion giant – parent company of chains like Zara, Bershka, or Stradivarius – held its shareholders' meeting this week, which approved the incorporation into the highest governing body of a well-known profile on the Ibex-35; specifically, in the broad financial chapter of the selective. The banking sector has also announced new faces in its technology segment, with signings at Openpay and Revolut.

The judge of the Audiencia Nacional Antonio Piña has opened a oral trial against BBVA, its former president Francisco González and 14 other people, including former directors of the banking entity and police commanders, for a series of allegedly illegal commissions made to commissioner José Manuel Villarejo between 2004 and 2016. In the order opening the oral trial of piece 9 of the Tàndem case, the magistrate collects the indictments from the Prosecutor's Office and the private prosecutions and sends BBVA to trial for crimes of bribery and 52 crimes of discovery and revelation of secrets.

When the Saudi operator STC entered Telefónica, the telecom company, then chaired by José María Álvarez-Pallete, argued that the "Spanishness" of the shareholding was not lost. It said so because a core group based in the State was maintained with historical shareholders such as Criteria, BBVA itself, and CaixaBank, which sold its stake in 2024. The State Industrial Shareholdings Corporation (SEPI), the Spanish government's investment arm, would later join them, acquiring 10% of Telefónica's share capital. Today, however, this Spanish core has been diluted. CaixaBank's departure two years ago is now joined by BBVA's reduction, which in the last few hours has gone from controlling 5.007% of the share capital to holding only a 1.965% stake, as confirmed by ARA from market sources.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become the center of business debate. For this reason, the BBVA board of directors has met in Barcelona to analyze its opportunities and the strategy linked to it, and has also gathered a hundred client companies from all over Spain during corporate banking days.

The Qivalis consortium, founded by CaixaBank and later joined by BBVA, will soon incorporate more Spanish entities to launch a stablecoin – digital money linked to the euro–, such as Banco Sabadell and Bankiter, which plans to make a definitive decision in the summer. There is also a possibility that Abanca and Kutxabank will do so, according to various sources. For its part, Banco Santander is the only one of the major Spanish financial entities that is studying entering another project along with international financial giants such as Bank of America, Barclays, Citi, Deutsche Bank, Goldman Sachs, MUFG Bank, TD Bank Group and UBS. In this case, the digital money would be linked to currencies of the richest countries (G-7), such as the euro, but also the dollar or the yen.

The demand from generation Z has raised the bar and has forced banking to focus on immediate experience. José Ballester, territorial director of BBVA in Catalonia, details how the entity is facing this new paradigm by offering not only an agile app and very competitive rates and products, but also the ability to count on a manager for life's big decisions.How are the financial habits of young people in Catalonia changing in an increasingly digital and competitive context?

Now the episode of BBVA's takeover bid for Banco Sabadell is truly over. With the closing of the sale of the British subsidiary TSB to Banco Santander, and the distribution of an extraordinary dividend of 50 cents per share on May 29, the bank closes a chapter in its 145-year history and begins a new one. The challenge is to prove that, after years of integrating entities in Spain (Atlántic, Guipuzcoano, or Urquijo), it will do better alone than in a bad partnership. After next Wednesday's shareholders' meeting, it will be a bank completely focused on the Catalan and Spanish market, with the challenge of deepening digitalization, but at the same time maintaining the characteristic of personal service with clients and, above all, with companies.

The arrival of spring not only brings the time change and milder temperatures. For investors in the Spanish stock market, it is the starting gun for the most lucrative period of the year. In 2025, the Ibex-35 reaffirmed itself as the one with the most generous remuneration in the Old Continent. According to the latest market data, the Spanish selective index leads dividend yield in Europe, thus breaking its own record of payments in a year marked by the strength of business results.

BBVA Chairman Carlos Torres is optimistic about the bank's growth despite the current global climate of geopolitical uncertainty. "Despite the current uncertain environment marked by trade tensions and armed conflicts, but also by great opportunities, the bank faces this context with confidence," Torres stated at the annual general meeting of shareholders held this Friday in Bilbao. In fact, the bank's chairman affirmed that they expect to continue growing faster than their competitors and to lead the era of artificial intelligence—"as we have done until now," he said—despite exposure to potentially volatile markets, such as Turkey, which accounts for 7% of their business, and Mexico, which in 2025 represented 45.4%.

Following the National Court's decision to send BBVA, as a legal entity, and its former president Francisco González to trial, the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office has made its move, demanding a 173-year prison sentence for the former executive and a fine of over €180 million for the financial institution. This is the prosecution's sentencing request in the espionage case related to the company of former police commissioner José Manuel Villarejo, as stated in the prosecution's indictment. Specifically, González faces a five-year prison sentence for continuous active bribery and an additional 168 years for 42 counts of disclosing and revealing secrets (four years for each count). However, sources within the Public Prosecutor's Office specify that, if convicted, the maximum sentence the former BBVA president would serve is three times the most severe penalty imposed. Regarding the financial penalty for the bank, it amounts to nine million euros for bribery (5,000 euros per day for five years) and 172.8 million euros for 48 counts of disclosing secrets (5,000 euros per day for two years for each count). The Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office believes this penalty is warranted for having hired Villarejo between 2004 and 2016. During those years, the bank, then headed by González, contracted Cenyt, the retired police commissioner's company, to spy on the construction company Sacyr.

The National Court has confirmed that there is sufficient evidence to send BBVA, as a legal entity, to trial, along with Francisco González, who was president of the financial institution between 2000 and 2018, and twelve other individuals, including senior executives of the bank and police officials, in the Villarejo case. Thus, BBVA is, for now, the first and only company in the Ibex-35 to go to trial in this case, while other implicated companies such as Repsol, CaixaBank, and Iberdrola have not been required to appear in court. In a ruling made public this Friday morning, the Criminal Chamber of the National Court considers that there is sufficient evidence for the defendants to stand trial for alleged crimes of continuous bribery and the discovery and disclosure of secrets resulting from the hiring of the now-retired police commissioner José Manuel Villarejo. The entity then headed by Francisco González hired Cenyt, Villarejo's company, to spy on the construction company Sacyr. The judges of the National Court have thus dismissed in full the eleven appeals filed against the ruling issued by former investigating judge Manuel García Castellón in the summer of 2024, when he decided to send the Bilbao-based entity and the rest of Francisco's associates to trial. In line with the Anti-Corruption Prosecutor's Office, the Criminal Chamber of the National Court is prosecuting the bank and endorsing the investigating judge's argument that the entity's claim of ignorance regarding the events was not credible. As for Francisco González, the judges also interpret that there is evidence suggesting that the former president knew that the information Villarejo's company obtained was through practices that "did not respect the law." In the summer of 2024, Judge García-Castellón, now retired, brought to a close the investigation, initiated in 2018, of separate case number 9 of the so-called Tándem case, the operation investigating the spying on companies and individuals by retired police commissioner José Manuel Villarejo. There is no further possibility of appealing the decision made public this Friday. The next step is to issue the order to open the oral proceedings and set the trial date. However, it should be noted that the current president of BBVA, Carlos Torres, is not listed as a suspect. "BBVA's priority has always been full cooperation with the Justice system [...] It has always maintained, and continues to maintain, that the investigated facts do not give rise to criminal liability for the institution," the bank stated, adding that the members of the current board of directors "have no connection" with the case.

More movement in the banking sector. If last week Sabadell surprised us with the departure of its CEO, César González-Bueno, now it's BBVA's turn to make a signing aimed at showcasing its support for Catalonia: the proposal of Catalan Jordi Montalbo as an independent director of the bank is a move to invest in the region after the failed takeover bid for the bank he chairs. Likewise, Pablo Isla will be appointed the new vice president of L'Oréal, Covestro is redefining the leadership of its production centers in Catalonia, and the Focus group has appointed a new CEO.

BBVA's board of directors will propose the appointment of Catalan Jordi Montalbo Todolí as an independent director to the next shareholders' meeting. With this move, the bank, chaired by Carlos Torres Vila, aims to underscore its commitment to Catalonia following the collapse of its takeover bid for Banc Sabadell last October. Montalbo, born in 1965, is an independent director of Med Vida (Mediterráneo Vida, SA de Seguros y Reaseguros) and spent much of his career at Deloitte, from 1990 to 2022. At the consulting firm, he specialized in sector auditing. He held prominent positions such as partner in charge of insurance in Spain, as well as partner in audit and insurance for financial services and co-lead audit leader for the insurance sector in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. The prospective BBVA director holds a degree in economics and business administration from the University of Barcelona. He holds a high level of technical specialization as an insurance actuary from the same university. He has also completed several training and development programs both in Spain and abroad. His appointment is subject to verification by the European Central Bank (ECB) to confirm that he meets the regulatory requirements for suitability to serve as a board member.