Despite inflation and higher interest rates, the Spanish economy will continue to be the fastest-growing European economy next year. This is the forecast from CaixaBank Research's outlook for 2027. The estimates from the bank's research department, presented this Monday, point to a 2% rise in gross domestic product (GDP) next year, compared to 2.6% in the current fiscal year; and 1.4% for the eurozone (1% in 2026), as explained by Enric Fernández, chief economist at CaixaBank.

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.

"There is plenty of financing available." The CEO of CaixaBank, Gonzalo Gortázar, defended this Friday that the obstacle to housing development in Spain does not come from the entities' capacity to grant mortgages, but rather from the construction deficit and the rise in prices that the sector has been suffering for years. He stated this at the press conference held in Valencia to present the company's results up to September, a period in which the bank earned 4.962 billion euros, 12.9% more than last year.

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.

If there is a secret to aging well, it seems likely that Valentí Fuster knows something about it. At 83 years old, this global reference in cardiology is participating in one of the Generation+ meetings organized by Caixabank to talk about the challenges of longevity in the economy and health. He does so with a lucidity unusual for someone who was on a plane traveling from the United States just three hours ago. The audience, of course, wants to know the recipe of a man capable of still balancing the role of director of the Cardiovascular Institute at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York with the direction of the National Center for Cardiovascular Research (CNIC) in Madrid.

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.

The Department of Economy and Finance of the Generalitat has decided to extend the mobile banking service in municipalities without an office until 2028 under the same conditions as until now. In this way, CaixaBank and Caixa Enginyers will continue to be responsible for offering this type of coverage to a total of 453 Catalan municipalities.

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.

New semester of green numbers for CaixaBank, which has closed the first six months of 2026 with a net profit of 3,203 million euros, 8.5% more than in the same period last year. This was detailed this Wednesday by the company's CEO, Gonzalo Gortázar, during the presentation of the entity's results held in Valencia.

The historic president of La Caixa, Josep Vilarasau (Barcelona, February 20, 1931), died this Tuesday at the age of 95, as reported by La Vanguardia and confirmed by ARA. Vilarasau led the entity for 27 years, between 1976 and 2003. First as general director and then as president, La Caixa experienced under his management a leap to become a financial giant in the State.

CaixaBank has celebrated in Barcelona the second edition of the Generació + meetings, an initiative aimed at the senior collective that this year incorporates as a novelty the awarding of the Generació + Prizes. The event, which has the collaboration of VidaCaixa and SegurCaixa Adeslas, has focused on longevity and the recognition of senior figures crucial for their work. Francesc Salvador, vice-president of the Portal Private Foundation; Carme Trilla, president of the Hàbitat3 Foundation, and Dr. Ramon Cristòfol, specialized in geriatrics, have been the recipients of the awards.The event, held at CaixaBank's corporate headquarters in Barcelona, brought together a large audience and served to highlight the need to maintain healthy longevity. Maria Alsina, territorial director of CaixaBank in Barcelona, inaugurated the event, which also included the participation of the commercial director of retail at CaixaBank's territorial directorate in Barcelona, Miguel Gramuntell. Maria Alsina highlighted the entity's commitment to accompanying people throughout all stages of their lives, and Gramuntell presented the specific solutions that the entity offers to promote well-being, autonomy, and personal planning in this stage, and emphasized that Generació + symbolizes CaixaBank's commitment to a differential financial proposal aimed at the senior segment.

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).

The Catalan technological ecosystem receives its accolades at the 19th edition of the EmprènXXI awards, the accolades from CaixaBank DayOne and the state entrepreneurship financing company Enisa dedicated to the best emerging companies. The entity's entrepreneurship financing segment has awarded the start-ups Second Hundred, Aridditive, and AtomH2 in three of its eight sectoral challenges of the year, while it has granted the biomedical company Polar Nanopharma one of the two honorable mentions, dedicated to the initiative with the greatest capacity for social impact. The four companies from the principality have prevailed in a process that received more than a thousand applications.

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.

In terms of budgets, it could be said that Catalonia is not (really) Spain. The balance of parliamentary forces will allow for them before summer. Specifically, so that they can be approved by Parliament in July. It only remains for ERC, which has convened a national council for Monday, to give it the go-ahead. The situation is perceived in the happy faces of some government members, especially the Minister of Economy, Alícia Romero.

The Spanish financial system faces the economic uncertainty generated by the attacks on Iran by the United States from a position of "strength, resilience, and profitability" and "prepared even for the worst-case scenarios." This Thursday, the CEO of CaixaBank, Gonzalo Gortázar, wanted to convey confidence in the state economy during the entity's results presentation for the first quarter of 2026. A period during which the company has once again achieved record figures. This time, a net profit of 1,572 million euros, that is, 7% more than in the same period of the previous year.

The territorial directors of CaixaBank's DT Barcelona and DT Catalunya, Maria Alsina and Josep Maria González, participated in the delivery of roses, which were made by people with disabilities from collaborating social entities, on the occasion of Sant Jordi's Day. A total of half a thousand CaixaBank volunteers in Catalonia have distributed 12,750 roses to the elderly and people with intellectual disabilities in 135 residences in the four provinces. 

CaixaBank leads a syndicated operation to finance Puy du Fou with 85 million euros, an amusement park about the history of Spain located in Toledo. With this operation, in which other financial entities participate, the promoter company, of French origin, will consolidate the growth of the facility, which has been operating since 2021, and will advance in the construction of the first hotel within the premises.