The North American investment multinational Blackstone has limited the withdrawal of money from investors in its main private credit fund following a surge in investment liquidations. This is another case of massive money withdrawals from an investment vehicle dedicated to private credit, a branch of the financial industry that has been showing problems in recent months in the United States, where it operates as a shadow banking sector. shadow banking.

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.

Bad times are coming for holders of variable-rate mortgages. The daily 12-month Euribor, the main reference for this type of loan for home purchases, has closed the month with an average above 2.8% (2.804%) and is heading towards 3%, according to analysts. Thus, the monthly payment for an average mortgage of 174,132 euros with Euribor plus one point, which was 833.11 euros, will rise to 900.39 euros, an increase of 67.28 euros more or 807.36 euros more per year.

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.

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 daily one-year Euribor, the main reference for variable-rate mortgages, closed April with a new increase, reaching 2.848%. The average stood at 2.747%, compared to 2.143% a year ago, and a new increase is added to that of March. Consequently, this evolution, which places this reference at the levels of September 2024, means the average mortgage (173,280 euros, according to INE data from February, over 25 years) will increase its monthly installment by 55.94 euros or 671.28 annually, to 890.60 euros per month or 10,687.2 euros per year.

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.

One of the songs from the final stage of The Beatles was The long and winding road (The long and winding road), on the album Let it be, the last one published, even though it was recorded before Abbey Road. Surely the title and parts of the lyrics come to mind for Alícia Romero's Ministry of Economy: "You left me standing here. A long, long time ago. Don't leave me waiting. Guide me to your door." Not only because of the difficulties she has in approving the first budgets of Salvador Illa's legislature, which also, but because of the obstacles in achieving another objective pursued by the different Catalan governments, which is to make the Institut Català de Finances (ICF) a true public bank to cover areas that private financial entities do not reach, or barely do.

The Euribor continues to make mortgages more expensive, one of the consequences of the effects of the war in the Middle East. This indicator, which is the benchmark for variable-interest home loans, but also affects new ones entering the market, closed March at an average of 2.565%, with the largest monthly increase in three years after reaching 2.870% on the last day of the month. As a consequence of this trend, holders of variable-interest mortgages with annual reviews will suffer the first increase in their installments since April 2024 because this month's Euribor is higher than that of a year ago, which was 2.398%.

The Catalan Finance Institute (ICF), the public bank of the Generalitat, has granted to date 846 loans to young people aged 18 to 35 to obtain the down payment for an apartment. The average granted is 36,332 euros and an average housing price of 189,908 euros with an average age of beneficiaries of 29.4 years, according to data presented by the Secretary General of Economy and President of the ICF's governing board, Juli Fernández, and the entity's CEO, Vanessa Servera.

Since 2008, there has been a veritable tsunami in the banking sector. Financial institutions have closed 6,000 branches in Catalonia since then, thus increasing the risk of financial exclusion, according to a report by the Catalan Competition Authority (ACCO). This process has resulted from various consolidation initiatives, such as CaixaBank's acquisition of Bankia. Consequently, Catalonia, along with Andalusia and Madrid—the most populous autonomous communities—has the fewest bank branches per 100,000 inhabitants, according to data from the Bank of Spain. The ACCO analysis, which previously produced a similar report opposing BBVA's takeover bid for Banc Sabadell (a bid that ultimately failed), also warns of the risks of excessive concentration in certain areas and responds to a motion from the Parliament of Catalonia regarding the need to establish a public banking system focused on economic development. The consolidation of the banking sector in Catalonia has been accompanied by branch closures, a decrease in the number of ATMs, and job losses. Between 2008 and 2024, Catalonia lost 6,038 branches, a 74% reduction. As a result, 503 Catalan municipalities (53% of the total) have no bank branches and 435 (46%) have no ATMs. This process has also led to the disappearance of the 10 existing savings banks and a significant increase in concentration: the four largest banks together operate 85% of the branches. According to the study, "the concentration of the retail banking market in Catalonia can be considered high, both in terms of the availability of bank branches and the amount of credit granted." The study adds that "generally, these are markets with an oligopoly structure in which CaixaBank has a significant market share, followed by BBVA, Sabadell, and Santander. Only in a few specific cases do other entities have a considerable market share, such as Ibercaja in the province of Lleida." According to the study, CaixaBank operates 39.22% of branches (828), BBVA 18.85% (398), Banco Sabadell 15.92% (336), and Banco Santander 10.90% (230). The fifth largest bank, Ibercaja, has only 3.27% of branches (69), and the remaining entities, combined, have a market share of 11.84% (250). Currently, only Banc Sabadell, which relinquished its headquarters last year during BBVA's takeover bid, Caixa Ingenieros, and Caixa Guissona have their registered offices in Catalonia. CaixaBank has one in Valencia, although its owner, the La Caixa Foundation, and its investment arm, Criteria, relocated it to Barcelona last year. In total, there are 29 deposit-taking institutions operating in Catalonia.

More population, lower density of bank branches. Catalonia, along with Andalusia and Madrid, the most populated autonomous communities, has the fewest bank branches per 100,000 inhabitants, according to data from the Bank of Spain. And regions like Extremadura, La Rioja, and Aragon, with smaller or more dispersed populations, are among those with the most. However, in both cases, the reduction in networks and supply, with the disappearance of savings banks through their transformation or absorption by other entities, has been drastic since the peak reached in 2008, the year the financial crisis erupted.

Bankinter's CEO, Gloria Ortiz, continues to see "irrationality" in the mortgage market and has once again ruled out entering into any kind of price war for home loans. During the presentation of the 2025 results, in which the bank surpassed €1 billion in profit for the first time, she denounced that some institutions are selling mortgages at 2% or 2.20% when the curve swap The 30-year yield is currently around 3%.

There are still those who remember my time on the Governing Council of the Bank of Spain and ask me about the collapse of the savings bank system during the crisis, driven by nostalgia and the need for financial repositioning of the Catalan productive economy. Of course, for this reason, some of us would like a new, entirely public banking system, going beyond the current tasks of the Catalan Finance Institute: a public banking system that, for now, I don't quite see coming. In any case, I would like to highlight an interesting recent speech by the Governor of the Bank of Spain, José Luis Escrivá, at the general assembly of the European Association of Cooperative Banks, although he was referring to the cooperative credit sector in Spain.

Changes in CaixaBank's management committee. The board of directors has decided that Jordi Mondéjar will be the new head of business, replacing Jaume Masana, who will assume the role of CEO of SegurCaixa Adeslas, replacing Javier Murillo. Mariona Vicens will retain her position as head of digital transformation and advanced analytics And, in addition, it will assume responsibility for CaixaBank Payments & Consumer (CPC) and Imagin. At the same time, the current risk management department will be divided into two areas: the credit risk admission and monitoring department, which will be led by Manuel Galarza, and the risk management and compliance department, headed by Natividad Capella, who will join the management committee. With these changes, "the entity is adapting to an increasingly digital environment, driving technological disruption, and simplifying its organizational structure," according to a statement. Meanwhile, the sustainability area, which will now report to the business management division, will also integrate social action. And the accounting, management control, and capital department, headed by Matthias Bulach, will also integrate the area of public affairsFurthermore, to facilitate a structured and orderly transition at SegurCaixa Adeslas – whose general insurance company CaixaBank holds a 49.9% stake through VidaCaixa, and Mutua Madrileña a 50% stake – Murillo will continue as CEO, with the support of Jaume Masana as deputy CEO, until his reappointment. Masana, Eugenio Solla (formerly of Bankia, which was absorbed by CaixaBank), who headed the sustainability area and is joining the business side under Mondéjar, and Jordi Nicolau, who led Payments & Consumer, which will now be headed by Mariona Vicens, are leaving the current management committee. The new addition to the management committee is Natividad Capella, director of risk management and compliance. These changes to the management committee are subject to suitability verification by the European Central Bank (ECB). According to CaixaBank, "these changes allow us to evolve towards a digital ecosystem, promoting innovation and technological disruption as drivers of transformation in the financial sector." The new CaixaBank management committee will continue to be chaired by Gonzalo Gortázar, the bank's CEO, and will consist of the following executives:

In 25 years, the financial landscape has changed dramatically: from extensive branch networks to digital banking and the decline of physical branches, which has led public administrations, such as the Generalitat of Catalonia and the Barcelona Provincial Council, to launch mobile banking service concessions. From 2010 to the present day, two-thirds of bank branches have disappeared. In fact, there are now the same number as there were in 1970. And more than 100,000 jobs have been lost in the sector. When Fibanc, the institution founded in 1983 by financier Carles Tusquets, was born, competition among banks was about who had the most branches, the exact opposite of today. And, at the end of 2000, long before the financial crisis that devastated a portion of the financial system, Tusquets opted to merge with the Italian bank Mediolanum. It was a newly established entity, founded some four years earlier in 1997, family-owned and managed by Ennio Doris – today his son Massimo is the CEO of the parent company and his sister Sara is the vice president and also of the subsidiary in Spain.

Caixa Ingenieros will close this year with another 4,000 members, reaching a total of 220,000. 2025 will be another record-breaking year, according to the bank's CEO, Juanjo Llopis, speaking at a press conference to review his first year in the position, having succeeded Joan Cavallé. In fact, the bank expects to surpass last year's result of €24 million. The goal of the Transforma 2026 strategic plan is to end this period with 230,000 members. Llopis also spoke highly of the mobile banking service, which the bank won in a tender issued by the Generalitat (the Catalan government) for towns without bank branches. He explained that this service has allowed them to add 400 members, representing 10% of all those acquired during 2025, to the routes they operate in the Girona, Tarragona, and Anoia areas. These routes, for which CaixaBank also won the tender, have received 1,700 visits and 1,900 ATM transactions. They also plan to maintain their proximity banking strategy by opening between one and three new branches next year. This year, they have added three in Catalonia: Vilanova i la Geltrú, Vic, and Manresa, and one in Alicante. The intention is to continue opening branches in regional capitals and some municipalities where they currently offer mobile banking services. They also plan to open branches in other provincial capitals outside of Catalonia where they do not yet have a presence. Currently, they have branches in Bilbao, Zaragoza, Seville (2), Málaga, Palma, Valencia (2), and Madrid (3).

Qivalis is the name of the consortium of 10 European banks, including CaixaBank, that will launch their own digital currency during the second half of next year. Specifically, a stablecoinThat is, a digital currency linked in this case to the euro. stablecoin It will allow for near-instantaneous, low-cost payments and settlements, available 24/7, including cross-border transactions, improved supply chain management, and settlement of digital assets such as securities and cryptocurrencies.