Top List of Banks in Spain
Spain is one of Europe’s top tourist destinations because of its diverse scenery and culture. The country is also a popular destination for banking, with many different banks available to suit your needs.
The first step in finding the best bank for you is understanding where you want your bank to be headquartered, what type of service you want, and the different banking products offered. Here are some of Spain’s top banks to help get you started:
Banco Santander
Banco Santander is the third-largest bank in Europe by total assets; €1.508 trillion. It has more than 100 million customers, 11,236 branches, and 191,000 employees. Its headquarters are in Santander, in northern Spain. The bank’s key markets are the United Kingdom, Brazil, and the United States.
Banco Santander offers retail banking services and products to individual customers and small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). These include current accounts, credit cards, personal loans, and mortgages. The bank also offers insurance products such as life insurance and car insurance.
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (BBVA)
Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, S.A. (BBVA) is a multinational Spanish banking group. BBVA resulted from a merger between Banco Bilbao Vizcaya and Argentaria in 1999, forming one of the first large multinational banks in Europe. BBVA has grown mainly through acquisitions, having bought banks in Latin America, United States, and Asia.
BBVA offers a wide range of financial services: retail banking, asset management, private banking, insurance and pension plans, corporate and investment banking, and wholesale banking.
Total Assets: 736.3 billion EUR
Employees: 123,174
Branches: 2,840
CaixaBank
CaixaBank is a leading retail bank in Spain and one of the largest financial institutions in Europe. It is headquartered in Valencia, Spain. It has more than 15 million customers and over 37,440 employees. The company offers a range of services, including savings accounts, current accounts, term deposits, mortgage loans, personal loans, credit cards, auto and home insurance products, mutual funds, and foreign currency exchange.
Total Assets: 386.6 million EUR
Branches: 5,397
Bankia
Bankia is one of the largest financial institutions in Spain, with assets of 179.1 billion EUR, 13,463 employees, and 1,900 branches present in all Spanish provinces.
Bankia offers its customers a broad range of products and services related to banking and finance, insurance, pension plans, and asset management.
The Bankia group is made up of BFA Bankia (formerly Banco Financiero y de Ahorros), Caja Madrid, Bancaja, Caixa Galicia and Caixa Nova, as well as other companies that offer complementary services.
Banco de Sabadell
Banco de Sabadell, S.A., is the fifth-largest bank in Spain and the second largest savings bank globally, with total assets of 222.3 billion EUR and over 11.4 million customers. The Bank provides a wide range of services, including real estate, corporate and retail banking, investment banking, asset management; private banking; fund administration, and insurance.
Banco de Sabadell has a network of 2,873 branches (2,204 domestic and 669 international) and 26,181 employees in Spain and overseas, including its global branch network, which has been structured around three main areas: Europe, North America, and Latin America. Banco de Sabadell also has a presence in Asia via its representative offices in Hong Kong (China) and Tokyo (Japan).
Banco Popular Español
Banco Popular is the second-largest retail bank in Spain with almost 2,000 branches across Spain and 200 abroad, staffed by over 15,500 employees. It also has branches worldwide, with a significant presence in Puerto Rico and the United States.
Total Assets: 113.14 bln EUR
Banco Popular Español, S.A., offers its clients a wide range of financial products through its three business lines: Retail Banking, Wholesale Banking, and Asset Management. Its retail banking arm provides private banking services to small and medium-sized enterprises through several distribution channels (branches network, telephone banking service, and internet).
Bankinter
Bankinter is a Spanish company that offers its customers a full range of financial products and banking services at more than 523 branches. The bank has more than 6,078 employees and around 83.73 billion EUR in assets.
The bank's main business areas include personal banking, small business banking, corporate banking, private banking, and asset management. The company is also present in the insurance market through Banca Particulares Seguros y Reaseguros S.A., which operates under the brand name Bankinter Seguros y Reaseguros.
Caja Rural Group
Caja Rural Group is the leading rural bank in Spain. It is a financial group with nearly 3,500branches. Its assets amount to 59 billion Euros, and it employs more than 13.100 people.
Caja Rural Group offers a wide range of banking services to individuals, small businesses, and corporations through its network of nearly 1,100 branches throughout Spain. It also provides insurance services by Mapfre Insurance, an asset management service provided by Mapfre Asset Management, and brokerage services by Mapfre Bolsa.
KutxaBank
KutxaBank was created due to the merger of Caja Vital and Caja Laboral Popular in 2012. Both banks were founded in 1959 when their respective regional governments decided to make a financial institution to support the region's economic growth and development.
KutxaBank offers its customers banking and insurance products through branches spread across Basque and Navarre. It provides a wide range of banking and financial services for private individuals and companies, including current accounts, savings accounts, credit cards, loans, mortgages, and investment funds.
It has been ranked among the top European banks according to the Spanish portal Rankia, with assets totaling 58.3 billion EUR as of 2018 and 5,822 employees.
Unicaja Banco
Unicaja Banco is the fourth biggest bank in the Spanish region of Andalusia. It is one of the largest savings banks in Spain, with a network of over 700 branches and more than 6,337 employees.
Total Assets: 57.5 billion EUR (2018)
Unicaja Banco offers personal banking products and services, business banking, and corporate banking products and services through its network of branches located in Malaga, Granada, Almeria, Cordoba, Jaen, Cadiz, and Seville.
FAQs
Q. What is the safest bank in Spain?
A. The Spanish banking system has been a mess over the last few years, but one bank was an exception. It is called Banco Santander, and it is headquartered in Madrid. It operates branches throughout Spain (including the Canary Islands) and in other countries worldwide. Banco Santander is not just one of the safest banks in Spain; it is one of the safest banks in Europe.
