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.

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.

On July 20, 2010, Iniciativa per Catalunya Verds (ICV) said goodbye to the historic headquarters it had on Ciutat de Barcelona street, next to City Hall, to move to a much larger and more modern one –inside, not outside– a few minutes' walk away. In Rellotge passage, with access from a gate on Escudellers street, the eco-socialists were there until 2019, when, drowning in debt, they had to resort to bankruptcy proceedings to liquidate the party that was the heir to the PSUC. In the midst of the real estate bubble, that new headquarters had cost 7.5 million euros –including a significant renovation–, financed mainly by CaixaBank. Seven years later, that building that ended up condemning the party is for sale on the real estate portal Building Center –CaixaBank's real estate subsidiary– for 1.75 million euros. It is no longer owned by ICV, but by the same financial institution, which has taken possession of it due to the impossibility of selling it during the bankruptcy proceedings.

CaixaBank relaunches its promotion for direct deposit of salaries with the aim of attracting new clients after the success of last year's campaign. The entity offers users the possibility of obtaining a cash payment of up to 250 euros for direct depositing their salary.

The confrontation between great powers is the "greatest threat to global stability". This was denounced this Friday by the president of CaixaBank, Tomàs Muniesa, during the company's general shareholders' meeting held in Valencia. The executive has held the foreign policy of the United States primarily responsible for this situation, which he has accused of "generating uncertainty". According to Muniesa, geopolitics has become the main threat to the global economy in the short term, while climate change is the main threat in the medium term.

The Michelin Guide was born in 1900 with a business purpose that most have forgotten today: to sell more tires. How was it possible to combine cuisine with automobiles? Brothers André and Édouard Michelin had founded the company eleven years earlier in Clermont-Ferrand, in central France, encouraged by the positive outlook for the automotive industry. But at that time, there were fewer than 3,000 vehicles on the French market, and most were concentrated in cities. How could they get people to wear out their tires and get them punctured so they could sell new ones? Thus, a guide was launched, initially free, with maps and numerous recommended restaurants, with the intention of encouraging car owners to travel the country. Over time, the selection of the best restaurants by independent "inspectors" solidified the guide's status as a benchmark, and in 1926, quality began to be rated with stars. Today, the guide is a global benchmark, sometimes overshadowed by Michelin-starred restaurants, but it continues to carefully select the best restaurants, even outside major cities. This was the case on Monday in Girona with the presentation of Michelin plaques to recommended restaurants in Catalonia outside of Barcelona. This year, CaixaBank was responsible for presenting the 89 plaques, having taken over the organization with the aim of strengthening its presence in the gastronomy sector. As with Michelin stars, Catalonia accounts for one in five of the top establishments in Spain, with a wide geographical distribution. For 2025, 10 restaurants outside Barcelona will be added to the list, which, in keeping with the spirit in which the guide was created, are well worth a visit.

Changes are coming to the top of CaixaBank, which will be formalized at the bank's next general meeting. Amparo Moraleda, the bank's vice president, has resigned after 12 years on the board. In addition to the changes at CaixaBank, the board of trustees of the Barcelona Institute of Economics has added three leading figures from the Catalan economy and business world.

CaixaBank's board of directors will propose to the shareholders' meeting on March 27 the re-election of Tomàs Muniesa as chairman for a four-year term, representing the main shareholder, the La Caixa Foundation. Muniesa has held the position since last year. At the same time, the appointment of Ana María Fau as an independent director will be proposed to fill the vacancy left by Amparo Moraleda. who was appointed vice president last year and that by the time the meeting is held, he will have held the position for twelve years.

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).

Another historic year for CaixaBank. The bank, chaired by Tomàs Muniesa and with Gonzalo Gortázar as CEO, closed 2015 with a record profit of €5.891 billion, 1.8% higher than the previous year, according to the results published this Friday with the Spanish National Securities Market Commission (CNMV). In the last quarter, the bank's profit was €1.494 billion, 3.4% higher than in the previous quarter. "It has been a very positive year for the bank, and therefore also positive for the Spanish economy," stated the bank's CEO, Gonzalo Gortázar, during the press conference presenting the results in Valencia, where the bank maintains its headquarters – "and there are no plans to change it in the coming years" despite the Gortázar incident. "We have exceeded the expectations for the first year of the strategic plan," he noted.

Together they have surprised everyone by asking him to appear in Parliament the recently re-elected president of the La Caixa FoundationIsidro Fainé. Why has he done this? The request comes directly from the national leadership of Junts, chaired by Carles Puigdemont, according to sources familiar with the matter consulted by this newspaper. The reason? They want him to explain "the project" he has to continue leading the main Catalan foundation. But this request for "transparency" shatters the state of relations between Junts and La Caixa.

CaixaBank has appointed executive Manuel Galarza to the supervisory board of Qvalis, the digital currency they created through a joint venture with 10 other European banks. Galarza is the bank's head of credit risk.

The doubts have vanished. Isidre Fainé (Manresa, 1942) has been re-elected president of the La Caixa Foundation for another four years. At the same time, Javier Godó (publisher of) has been reappointed as vice president. The VanguardJosé María Álvarez-Pallete (former president of Telefónica), Luis Carreras (lawyer and vice president of the Red Cross in Barcelona), Isabel Estapé (notary), María Isabel Gabarró (notary), Eugeni Gay (lawyer), and Francesc Homs (president of In and president of Nestlé) will continue as board members. In all cases, the re-election approved by the board this Monday is for the statutory four-year term. Furthermore, the 2026 budget for social work increases by more than 8%, to 710 million euros.

Both Sabadell and CaixaBank were the two Catalan (or Catalan-origin) companies on the Ibex 35 that grew the most in 2025. The year was marked by strong growth in the Spanish stock market and, from a Catalan perspective, by the recovery of Grifols and the notable declines of Puig.