bank

Boards of directors set to greenlight plan to create financial institution worth around €650bn on Thursday

Both the Catalan entity and the financial institution partly owned by the Spanish government are part of Spain's top 4 banks

8-day campaign seeks 10,000 donors to make up for decrease in stock levels over holidays

From January 10 to 17, this year's campaign includes trap music and Whatsapp group as it aims to bring in more young donors

European Court of Justice opens door to compensation after deciding banks may have misled customers over loans tied to fixed index

Last heatwaves contributed to a 20% drop in donors, says public health agency

Flu deemed as main reason for slight decline compared to last year

Catalan Health Department expects to exceed last year's participation in week-long campaign starting Friday 11

With four days off from December 6 to 9, mountain, country and coastal areas are looking forward to a bumper year

Bank of Spain increases 2018 growth forecast to 2.7%

There is “no risk of losing savings” on the road to independence, argues the Ministry of Economy

MEPs from different EU parties condemn action of Spanish police against Catalan executive, though European Commission declines to comment

The European Investment Bank (EIB) approved on Tuesday a €125 million loan to the Council of Barcelona to build 2,198 affordable houses. The money will help to finance 23 promotions from all over the city and will cover 50% of the projects budget. The rest will be paid through the Council own resources (31%) and other financial sources, including public and private institutions (19%). Gerardo Pisarello, from the Barcelona Council, said that the EIB loan will help the city save up to €45 million in interests, as the financing conditions set by the European Investment Bank are much more favourable than those of other banks. The Council of Barcelona is planning to build 8,800 affordable flats until 2025.

CaixaBank, Catalonia's largest financial group and one of the most significant companies in the whole of Spain, reported this Friday net attributable profit of €970 million for the first nine months of 2016, down 2.6% on the same period of 2015, which included a number of one-off impacts associated with the integration of Barclays Bank, SAU. Pre-tax profit amounted to €1,314 million, up 45.2% in comparison to last year.  Impairment losses on financial assets and others totalled €1,177 million, a 33.3% decreased in comparison to last year on account of the reduction in loan-loss provisions.

Barcelona’s Gracia neighbourhood saw violent protests this past Monday, after a demonstration against the eviction of the so-called ‘Expropriated Bank’. According to the police, after a peaceful rally, several people started making barricades, damaging urban furniture and several vehicles parked in the street and burning containers. As firefighters couldn’t control the different fires which occurred, the police decided to start a baton charge. According to some of the demonstrators, the agents were using foam projectiles and pictures of wounded people appeared on social media. The riots resulted in several wounded amongst the troublemakers and the police, and one person was arrested. The ‘Expropriated Bank’in Gracia was initially an office of the Caixa Tarragona bank. The building was occupied in 2011 and has since been integrated into the neighbourhood as a community centre.