The president of the CECA, Isidre Fainé, yesterday put the investment in social works of the old savings banks at 800 million euros during the past year and expressed his desire that this type of initiative can be extended “around the world”.
“Social work has been one of the greatest exponents of solidarity and commitment to progress and equity”, assured the also president of the La Caixa Foundation during the 116th assembly of the CECA, which was held in Madrid.
The figure mobilized last year is 2.8% above that of the previous year and made it possible to carry out more than 72,000 activities, from which 32 million people have benefited according to ECCA calculations .
“Social work is the soul of our association and we are obliged to protect it. We would like to spread it around the world. We will promote it with WSBI, which at the moment allocates 2.8 billion dollars to social works”, said Fainé at the assembly. The WSBI is the World Institute of Savings Banks and Retail Banks.
The CECA is made up of eight banks from the old savings banks. CaixaBank, Unicaja, Bancaja and Abanca stand out, which, together with the rest of the Ceca member institutions, account for 40% of the deposits in the Spanish financial system.
“It is precisely in moments of greatest difficulty and uncertainty, such as the current ones, when the CECA and its associated entities have an important mission to continue developing for the good of their customers and the whole of society”, pointed out Fainé.
Of the 800 million in social work last year, 313 million corresponds to the area of ​​social action, which exceeds the 219 million earmarked for education and research and the 153 million for culture and heritage.
The CECA entities have committed to maintaining savings accounts for those over 65, a measure that means managing 8.6 million accounts.
Information was also given on the situation of the banks in the current environment of uncertainty. According to the CECA, the entities have a high resilience capacity that allows them to face the current situation “with solid capital and liquidity positions”. The old banks are advocating for progress in the European banking union.
“We are a continuous and reliable source of financing for all kinds of customers. In 2022, we granted 141,000 million euros in credits, 32% more than the previous year. At the end of the financial year, our credit portfolio had already risen to 416,000 million”, said Fainé at the CECA assembly.
