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.

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.

The members of Caixa Enginyers have approved the annual accounts of the credit cooperative for 2025, when it achieved a record result of 26.5 million euros, 11% more than in 2024. During the celebration of its Ordinary General Assembly, the members gave the green light to results that include a business volume of 9,269 million euros, which represents an increase of 8% compared to 2024, the entity reported this Tuesday in a statement.

The Italian bank Mediolanum landed in Spain in 2000 with the purchase of Fibanc – an entity founded by businessman Carles Tusquets – with the idea of replicating its model in the transalpine country, in operation since 1982. At the beginning of the new century, Spanish entities were struggling to expand their network of offices to reach every corner of the country: having branches was synonymous with success. Mediolanum, on the other hand, had for years been betting on a different system that revolved around the figure of what is called a family banker, financial advisors who offer to visit the client at their home and with whom they maintain constant contact. And far from the more traditional business of banks – where a good part of the clients have their immobile assets in bank accounts – these advisors move money and place it in investment funds, pension plans, or life insurance, among others.

The tsunami that caused the 2008 financial crisis made hundreds of bank branches disappear and left many Catalan municipalities without these services. As a consequence of this process, in 2021 there were 502 Catalan towns with no access to banking services, 53% of the total, with a population of over 305,000 inhabitants, 3.94% of the total. At the end of 2024 – the latest available data – there were 38 municipalities, 4% of the total, with a population of 11,381 people, 0.14% of the total. The number of municipalities with no such services has been reduced by 92% in this period.

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.

Spanish banking has opted en masse for private digital money (stablecoin) linked to the euro. Banc Sabadell, Bankinter, Abanca, Kutxabank and Cecabank have joined the private consortium Qivalis, based in the Netherlands, as reported by ARA, and which also includes CaixaBank and BBVA. In this way, Spanish banking is the one with the most representatives in this society that began at the end of last year with 10 financial entities, which later increased to 12 and now number 37, with a presence in 15 countries.

The concern in the United States financial industry about the viability of some private credit investment funds has led Wall Street's major banks to bet on financial instruments that either cover losses in case of fund failure or allow for downside speculation. Major North American financial institutions have created a public index in recent weeks that allows investors to know the price of these new speculative instruments.

May 18, 2026, will be a date etched in the history of Bizum, the Spanish payment services provider par excellence. This Monday, its BizumPay platform will land in shops, bars, and restaurants to present itself as a payment alternative to conventional debit and credit cards, a universe until now dominated by North American groups like Visa or Mastercard. The news excites banks and European institutions, who are looking for new ways to reduce dependence on the United States in all sectors. However, commerce greets the measure with doubts and a rather limited initial implementation is expected.

Mortgage lending continues to circulate – in fact, some financial institutions have warned that it is doing so unsustainably – while housing prices rise month after month. In this context, some are already noticing a difficulty in buying: households where the main residence is rented have a "limited financial capacity" to acquire a first property through a mortgage, according to the Bank of Spain. Be that as it may, the scenario shows no signs of concern in the opinion of the supervisory body, which for some months has been analyzing whether to activate any limitations on the lending criteria for high-risk mortgages that are being granted.

The main Spanish banks have closed the first quarter without any of the tribulations that analysts expected. The six financial entities of the Ibex-35 arrive at the month of April with an accumulated profit close to 11,000 million euros, the best first quarter in the history of the sector. The market reads in the accounts of Santander, BBVA, CaixaBank, Banco Sabadell, Bankinter and Unicaja a strategy of "profitability growth" successful, in the words of the Renta 4 bank expert Nuria Álvarez. The economist, in statements to the newspaper ARA, points out that, in part, the entities have accelerated the offer of slightly riskier products, but also with more profit potential. "In this area, mortgages are not succeeding, but consumer credit is," adds Álvarez. And the Bank of Spain agrees: according to the organism's latest liquidity report, the total balance of consumer financing soared in the first quarter by 12.6%, to 117,351 million.

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.

The Government continues the refinancing process of the debt it holds with the autonomous liquidity fund (FLA) that began last summer. The executive council has authorized the Generalitat this Tuesday to access the banking market to repay 3,000 million euros of the liabilities it had accumulated with the FLA through new loans. It does so, according to government agreements, to "continue reducing the cost of the Generalitat's debt and diversifying financing sources" with private sector partners.

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.

Banking has suffered a black day on the stock market. Financial institutions have painted European main indices red, dragged down by forecasts of economic contraction due to the war in Iran. All countries have seen their banks lose momentum since the opening, but the Spanish state is among the main victims. The Ibex-35, much more heavily weighted with banking stocks than the rest of the relevant EU indices, has fallen by nearly 2.4% this Monday, and is once again moving away from the 18,000-point threshold that marked its rally since the start of 2026. Far from these figures, the German Dax 40 has survived the declines in the stock prices of Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank, and has stopped its freefall at -1.2%; while the French Cac 40 has dropped by nearly 1.7%.

If 2025 was marked by corporate operations at Banco Santander, no major ones are foreseen for 2026, at least not large ones. Nor in 2027, nor in 2028. "We do not foresee any important or significant operations in the next three years," assured the bank's CEO, Héctor Grisi, during the press conference for the first-quarter results of 2026, where he only opened the door to "small" moves that help strengthen the business in the markets where it has a presence.

2026 has begun marked by uncertainty, especially geopolitical due to the war in the Middle East, and it is already noticeable in the credit that banks provide, but also in the demand from families and businesses. On the one hand, during the first quarter of the year (January, February, and March), financial institutions in the State tightened the criteria for granting loans in all segments (mortgages, consumer, and business), but especially in loans to companies, as is evident from a new Bank Lending Survey published this Tuesday by the Bank of Spain (BdE).

Catalonia surpassed 8,500 housing mortgages constituted in February for the first time since 2010 and has now accumulated 20 months of year-on-year increases, according to figures updated by the National Statistics Institute (INE) this Friday.

The Bank of Spain closed last year with a profit of 234 million euros, which are transferred directly to the Public Treasury, as the entity collects in its annual accounts. With this result, the body chaired by José Luis Escrivá overcomes the two consecutive years of operating losses with which it closed 2023 and 2024, as happened with all central banks that are part of the Eurosystem, including the European Central Bank (ECB).

A few months ago, the global financial sector began to show signs of concern, especially in the United States, due to the collapse of First Brands, Tricolor Holdings, and the credit fraud cases of regional banks Zions Bancorporation and Western Alliance. Credit panic began to set in in the markets, also on the Old Continent, with stock market declines contagious from Wall Street. Just a few days ago, the bankruptcy of the British mortgage broker MFS (Markets Financial Solutions) also splashed several lending entities, including Barclays and Banco Santander, with a millionaire credit exposure.