The following list of banks in Spain is to be understood within the framework of the European single market and European banking union, which means that Spain's banking system is more open to cross-border banking operations than peers outside of the EU.
Policy framework
European banking supervision distinguishes between significant institutions (SIs) and less significant institutions (LSIs), with SI/LSI designations updated regularly by the European Central Bank (ECB).Significant institutions are directly supervised by the ECB using joint supervisory teams that involve the national competent authorities (NCAs) of individual participating countries.Less significant institutions are supervised by the relevant NCA on a day-to-day basis, under the supervisory oversight of the ECB.[1] In the Spanish case, the NCA is the Bank of Spain.[2]
Significant institutions
As of 2025-9-1, the list of supervised institutions maintained by the ECB included the following ten Spanish banking groups as SIs, with names as indicated by the ECB for each group's consolidating entity.[3] Of these, Santander has been consistently designated as Global systemically important bank (G-SIB) by the Financial Stability Board, including in its update of November 2025.[4]
A study published in 2024 assessed that the bank with most aggregate assets in Spain (as opposed to total consolidated assets) as of end-2023 was CaixaBank at €569 billion, followed by Santander (€535 billion), BBVA (€468 billion), Sabadell (€235 billion), Bankinter (€113 billion), Unicaja (€93 billion), Abanca (€75 billion), Kutxabank (€64 billion), Cajamar (€60 billion), Ibercaja (€55 billion), ING ((€33 billion, via a branch), and Deutsche Bank (€22 billion, via a subsidiary).[5] Other euro-area banks with subsidiaries in Spain include BNP Paribas
Less significant institutions
As of 2025-9-1, the ECB's list of supervised institutions included 73 Spanish LSIs.[3]
High-impact LSIs
Of these, five were designated by the ECB as "high-impact" on the basis of several criteria including size:
Banca March SA
Caja Laboral Popular Coop. De Credito, an independent cooperative bank
Cecabank, a former entity of the Spanish Confederation of Savings Banks
Grucajrural Inversiones SLU and Caja Rural de Navarra, two entities of the cooperative Grupo Caja Rural that are members of its institutional protection scheme (IPS)
Cooperative banks
In addition to the entities cited above as SI (Cajamar) or high-impact LSIs (Grucajrural Inversiones and Caja Rural de Navarra), 41 more Spanish LSIs were associated with the rural cooperative banking (caja rural) movement:
Third-country branches
As of 2025-10-13, the following banking groups established outside the European Economic Area had branches in Spain:[9]
The Bank of Spain and Instituto de Crédito Oficial are public credit institutions that do not hold a banking license under EU law.[10]
Defunct banks
A number of former Spanish banks, defined as having been headquartered in the present-day territory of Spain, are documented on Wikipedia. Many came to an end as a consequence of the 2008–2014 Spanish real estate crisis. They are listed below in chronological order of establishment.
One more cooperative bank was listed as LSI (in addition to above-mentioned Caja Laboral), albeit not a caja rural:
30 entities of the Grupo Caja Rural and members of its IPS: the central entity Banco Cooperativo Español plus the cajas rurales of Albacete (Globalcaja), Albal, Algemesi, Caja Rural de Aragón, Caja Rural de Asturias, Burgos (Cajaviva), Casas Ibañez, Extremadura, Galega, Caja Rural de Gijón, Caja Rural de Granada, Caja Rural de Jaén, Barcelona y Madrid, L'Alcudia, Les Coves de Vinroma, Nuestra Señora La Esperanza de Onda, Caja Rural de Salamanca, San Agustin de Fuente Alamo (Caja Rural Regional), San José de Alcora, Caja Rural San José de Almassora, Caja Rural de Soria, Sur, Caja Rural de Teruel, Villamalea, Vinaros, Zamora, Caixa Popular, Caja Rural Central, Cajasiete Caja Rural, and Ruralnostra[6]
9 entities of the Solventia Cooperative Group: cajas rurales of Almendralejo (central entity), Adamuz - Nuestra Madre del Sol, Baena, Cañete Torres, Nueva Carteya, Utrera, Benicarlo, La Vall San Isidro, and Banco de Depositos SA[7]
2 independent cajas rurales: Caja Rural de Guissona, and Eurocaja Rural
WP XII Financial Holdings Coop. UA, Dutch affiliate of Warburg Pincus
Valvorac ITG SL, intermediate holding entity
Singular bank, owned by WP XII via Valvorac
Aneto Sàrl (in Luxembourg), owner of WiZink
Wizink
Non-euro-area-controlled LSIs
Based on the same ECB list, six Spanish LSIs were affiliates of financial groups based outside the euro area:
🇦🇩Andbank España Banca Privada SA, subsidiary of Andbank
🇰🇼🇱🇾 Aresbank SA, also known as Banco Árabe Español, a joint venture in which Kuwait Foreign Trading Contracting & Investment Company and Libyan Foreign Bank each own a 30 percent stake[8]
