CaixaBank named ‘Bank of the Year in Spain 2016' by The Banker

• The Banker, a publication that is part of the Financial Times Group, praised CaixaBank's solvency and strength, as well as its leadership in the Spanish financial market, where CaixaBank has retail banking market penetration of 25.7%.
• The Bank of the Year awards recognize banks from more than 150 countries that "significantly" surmount the challenges facing the sector, amid a climate of low interest rates and growing competition.

CaixaBank, the leading bank in Spain by market share, has been recognised as ‘Bank of The Year in Spain 2016' by British magazine The Banker, part of the Financial Times Group. The bank, presided over by Chairman Jordi Gual and CEO Gonzalo Gortázar, has been honoured by The Banker for its robust banking activity and solvency, as well as the bank's sustained leadership of the Spanish financial market: CaixaBank has market penetration of 25.7% among retail customers, making it the primary bank for one out of every four Spaniards.

The Chairman of CaixaBank, Jordi Gual, declared his satisfaction with the award, which "comes as recognition of CaixaBank's strategy of positioning itself as leader in the Spanish market, placing the focus on service quality and digitisation, and sustaining high levels of solvency, with a regulatory CET1 ratio of 13.4% in September of this year, well above the 7.375% demanded by the ECB in 2017".

Meanwhile, Gonzalo Gortázar, CEO of CaixaBank, emphasized that "the bank has continued to gain market share in a sustained manner thanks to a distinctive range of products and services, provided by an extremely dedicated team that is fully focused on our customers".

CaixaBank has also managed to improve revenues thanks to intense commercial activity and the contributions of non-banking financial operations. In insurance, CaixaBank is the market leader with a 23.9% share in savings insurance, 18.4% in life risk insurance and 27.6% in health insurance. CaixaBank is also the Spanish leader in investment funds, with a market share of 18.1% via its fund management firm, CaixaBank Asset Management.

The publication, which is part of the Financial Times group, also pointed to the launch of imaginBank in January of 2016 as one of the milestones that bolstered the bank's leadership in mobile banking. CaixaBank is the front-runner in mobile banking, with 3.1 million active clients, and in online banking, where it has more than 5.1 million customers.

CaixaBank regards innovation as a strategic challenge, as well as a distinguishing hallmark of the bank's culture. Pioneering digital banking is one of the targets enshrined in the organisation's 2015-2018 Strategic Plan.

The Banker also pointed to the social aspect of the bank's operations. Via MicroBank, the only bank in Spain dedicated exclusively to microlending, it has helped to create 21,321 jobs, according to a recent report from the ESADE business school.

The Bank of The Year Awards were handed out by The Banker yesterday at a ceremony held in London, honouring banks from more than 150 countries that have "significantly" surmounted the challenges facing the sector, such as regulation, the economic crisis, increased competition, and problems associated with low intertest rates.

CaixaBank, a year of international accolades

This year CaixaBank was also named Best Bank in Spain by Global Finance, as well as being honoured by Euromoney as Europe's Best Bank for Corporate Social Responsibility and Best Private Bank in Spain.

The bank also recently won awards for innovation, such as the EFMA and Accenture award for the most innovative bank, and the BAI awards for innovation in payment services and the Most Disruptive Innovation in Banking. Global Finance also honoured the bank's innovation strategy, with the Global Finance awardfor the Best Retail Digital Bank in Western Europe.

Likewise, CaixaBank received the ‘Retail Banker of the Year' accolade for the bank with the world's best innovation strategy, while securing the highest score in the Forrester Research "2016 European Mobile Banking Functionality Benchmark" report, which evaluates mobile banking applications from Europe's eleven major "retail" banks.

About The Banker

The Banker is a British publication, part of the Financial Times Group, that has covered economics and finance since 1926, reporting on the markets, banking, regulation and risks, as well as transactions and technology. The Banker also runs other accolades, including awards for the Best Technology Projects, which CaixaBank won this year for its launch of imaginBank, and the Private Banking Awards, in partnership with PWM magazine, a title from the same group, which honoured CaixaBank Private Banking for digital communications in private banking.