Shattering profit records has become the new normal for major Spanish banks. After a 2025 marked by an increase in commercial activity in an environment of falling interest rates, the new geopolitical and economic context has given the sector a new boost. With skyrocketing inflation and a European Central Bank (ECB) forced to implement a restrictive monetary policy to avoid a loss of control over prices, the new wave of interest rate hikes has catapulted the results of the main entities, which are forecasting a historic year.

Banc Sabadell recorded a net profit of 1.376 billion euros by September, 1% less than during the same period of the previous year. The entity continued to feel the effect of the sale of its British subsidiary, TSB, to Banco Santander, which still had a net contribution of 79 million euros during the first four months of 2026, when it was still under its ownership, 63.7% less than a year earlier. In any case, being a smaller bank, it obtained a result similar to a year ago, when the British subsidiary contributed 18% of the profit.

On October 16 of last year, Banc Sabadell and BBVA definitively buried any possibility of a merger. After 17 months of open warfare and tug-of-war, a statement to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV) confirmed it. The offer from the entity presided over by Carlos Torres had achieved only 25% acceptance from the capital of the Valles-based bank, below the 30% minimum threshold that the Basque-origin group had set to continue with the operation. The group presided over by Josep Oliu had won the battle. But twelve months later, time has shown that, after the failed takeover bid, the final outcome has turned out to be happy for both.

Banc Sabadell, with the new stage under Marc Armengol as CEO and with the BBVA takeover bid in memory, is pressing the accelerator. The French BPCE, which groups entities such as Banque Populaire and Natixis and is the second-largest banking entity in France, has entered the capital of the Valles-based bank with around a 7% stake, valued at approximately 1.2 billion euros.

BBVA will distribute a dividend of 37 cents per share to its shareholders, the highest in its history. According to the entity, the operation will be effective on October 15 and will involve a total payout of 2 billion euros. This increase, 16% more than the interim remuneration of the previous year, will be charged against the 2026 results, a fiscal year that, for now, is breaking all records. During the first half of the year, BBVA achieved a net profit of 6.051 billion euros, 10% more than in the same period last year.

The academic year has begun in Catalonia with a substantial change at the helm of Parlem, one of the key companies of the business independence movement of the last decade. Furthermore, the end of summer marks, for all intents and purposes, the starting point of Marc Armengol's tenure as CEO of Banc Sabadell, with various organizational changes and a focus on digital activity. In the chamber sphere, the Association of Real Estate Agents (COAPI) has chosen its representative to the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce; while the Spanish government has appointed a new Secretary of State for Housing and Urban Agenda.

Since the arrival of Marc Armengol as CEO of Banc Sabadell last May, practically everything has been positive for the Vallesan entity. During the last four months, the executive has presented almost record-breaking half-year results, with skyrocketing revenues and a net profit of 971 million euros, has exceeded the stock market value prior to the distribution of the extraordinary dividend from the sale of the British subsidiary TSB and continues to boast of its capacity to grow independently after the failed takeover bid by BBVA. Backed by his predecessor, César González-Bueno, and by the group's chairman, Josep Oliu, it is now that Armengol faces his real acid test. This September 1st, the new organizational structure of the bank designed by Armengol himself came into operation. It is the gala lineup with which the former CEO of TSB must now command the fourth largest entity in the State by volume of assets. The composition of the management committee—formed precisely by eleven members, like soccer teams—remains unchanged, but notable changes have been applied in some business areas. Known for his techie profile, Armengol has wanted to make his preferences clear.

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.

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.

"Sabadell's revenues are going like a shot". Marc Armengol presented this Friday his first accounts as CEO of the Catalan bank, in which the entity obtained a net profit of 971 million euros in the first half of the year, 0.5% less than the previous year. It should be noted that the results still include the contribution of the British subsidiary TSB, which changed hands in May and now belongs to Santander.

A few days ago it was the auditorium of the Iese business school, and this Wednesday it was the turn of one of the main halls of the Palace of the Dukes of Santoña, headquarters of the Madrid Chamber of Commerce. These have been the two venues in the Spanish capital where Marc Armengol has debuted as CEO of Banco Sabadell. In the first forum, among the audience there were mostly students of finance or business management, while in the second, Madrid businessmen and investors took center stage, especially those linked to the Madrid Chamber of Commerce. And Armengol was aware of this. When Ángel Asensio, president of the Madrid organization, asked him about the role of the Spanish capital, the CEO of the Vallesana entity did not hesitate to praise its economic dynamism: "Madrid is the economy [of the State] that stands out the most". He also pointed to the audience listening to him, and in particular the Chamber of Commerce, as responsible for this feat: "Congratulations on the work you do. It is essential and explains the dynamism of the [Madrid] economy," said Armengol.

Spain's largest banks are once again talking about the banking business at financial conclaves. It's not that they haven't talked about it until now, but there was an "elephant in the room" that overshadowed the media spotlight: BBVA's hostile takeover bid for Banco Sabadell. Even though senior executives in the financial sector strived to explain how the business worked, headlines in the media didn't move beyond this framework – it also helped that at these meetings no one hesitated to ask about the operation. But since the majority of Sabadell's shareholders decided not to accept BBVA's offer, that chapter is now history, and the sector's conclaves are witnessing it, as attendees at the first day of the financial forum organized annually by the Iese business school in Madrid were able to verify this Wednesday. The meeting ends tomorrow, Thursday, and will feature the main figures of Spanish banking, but also other players in the sector.

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.

With the highest quorum in recent years, over 71%, according to the secretary of the board, Miquel Roca, Banco Sabadell has gathered shareholders today at the first post-failed BBVA OPA meeting. A meeting that has served as a farewell from the CEO who has been for the last more than five years, César González-Bueno; and a welcome to the new one, Marc Armengol, a professional with more than 25 years of experience in the company. And it had an unusual ending for board meetings, a refreshment as an shareholder requested a year ago, recalled the bank's president, Josep Oliu.

Banco Sabadell has reduced the pace of mortgage lending to adapt to lower profitability of this type of loans for home purchases. The CEO, César González-Bueno, who will leave his post after tomorrow's shareholders' meeting to hand over to Marc Armengol, former head of the British subsidiary, TSB, sold to Banco Santander, explained that mortgage prices (interest rates) "are very strained" and there is a lower pace of production and also of amortization.

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.

For the four largest banks in Spain, 2025 was not a bad year. In fact, with the exception of Banco Sabadell, CaixaBank, Banco Santander, and BBVA all posted record profits. However, the bank originating in the Vallès region closed the year with a net loss. match ball from the hostile takeover bid and will continue, for now, on the independent path it has so strongly advocated. In total, both entities have achieved a record profit of €32.278 billion this year. If the profits of Bankinter and Unicaja are added to that figure, the final total is €34 billion, more than double what they earned just four years ago (€16.289 billion).

I don't know if César González-Bueno, 65, CEO of Banc Sabadell, is a Beatles fan, but he's copied them by resigning at the height of their success. "He could have stayed on as long as he wanted, but he preferred to hand over the reins to someone with a promising career ahead of him," I'm told. After five years, he's leaving—he says—of his own volition and in agreement with Chairman Josep Oliu, his comrade in arms and through the tensions during the BBVA takeover bid, which they both sacked, convinced he's done his job.

After the BBVA's takeover bid journeyFollowing the failed takeover bid by BBVA, Banc Sabadell's CEO, César González-Bueno, 65, has decided to retire. He will be replaced by Marc Armengol, CEO of the group's British subsidiary, which was sold to Banco Santander. The bank's board of directors made this decision after González-Bueno, who joined the institution in 2020, decided to step down. According to the bank, they mutually agreed that "this is the optimal time for the transition." The executive, with a long career in banking, arrived at Sabadell shortly after BBVA's first attempt to take control of Sabadell in 2020, and is leaving four months after the Basque bank's second attempt failed last October. The bank will present its 2025 results this Friday.