Online Banking: The Convenience of Having Everything at a Click

Technology has arrived to make our daily lives easier, from booking medical appointments online, shopping on the internet, to managing any banking operations through a mobile application.

Digitalization has simplified many aspects of our daily lives. Thanks to the use of new technologies, new payment methods, and the digitalization of financial services, clients can carry out transactions and operations with their financial institution 24 hours a day, from anywhere.

In Spain, the use of online banking already surpasses the European Union average and has become the preferred channel for customer service. Since 2020, the use of digital banking has increased by 14.8% in rural Spain, and users of electronic banking over 65 years old grew by 28% during the coronavirus crisis.



This digital transformation has allowed clients to maintain direct contact with their financial institution through their mobile application. However, some groups, such as the elderly, have had to adapt to processes that advance faster than they do. The CECA sector (CaixaBank, Kutxabank, Cajasur Banco, Abanca, Unicaja Banco, Ibercaja Banco, Caixa Ontinyent, Colonya Pollença, and Cecabank) is very aware that older people constitute a key social group and make valuable contributions to their family environment, allowing us to learn and improve as a society. For this reason, the “CECA entities” continuously work to improve the attention and service they offer to this group, both in person and digitally. Alberto Aza, spokesperson for CECA, emphasizes that: “The essence of banking service is to offer opportunities for progress throughout all stages of the client’s life. This service evolves according to changing family needs at all phases of their lives.”

Innovation to Improve Financial Inclusion

The entities in the CECA sector invest up to 1.6 billion euros each year in innovation, which has allowed them to offer their clients a broader range of digital products and services. This has brought banking services closer to the population without geographical or temporal limitations and has improved customer service. “Banking Through the Generations” addresses in its third video the advances made by digital banking in Spain in recent years, resulting from new consumer habits based on digitalization, through the conversation between its two protagonists: Julián, a grandfather, and María, his granddaughter and a bank employee.

In this context, CECA, a member of the Internet Day Promotion Committee, supported its “Manifesto to Facilitate Access and Use of Digital Technologies for Older People” in March 2022. Its aim is to achieve healthy aging, valuing the choice of digital technologies from a human perspective and taking into account the group of older people to contribute to their empowerment as citizens, their personal development, and to improve their daily lives.

CECA Sector: Main Investor in Financial Education in Spain

The link between financial literacy and the digital environment is essential to reinforce messages that help citizens manage their finances adequately and securely, as reflected in various initiatives developed by the CECA sector. Among them, the portal Our Secure Data, which provides knowledge and confidence in terms of data, privacy, and security on the web. Financial entities are particularly aware of the importance of cybersecurity, betting on technology as a means to protect their clients’ data and staying at the forefront of security systems; and the platform Financial and Digital Classroom, an initiative of the banking sector, promoted by CECA, AEB, and UNACC, to facilitate access to content, courses, and programs launched by financial entities in financial and digital education, with the aim of making economic concepts more understandable and facilitating knowledge of online channels and procedures.

Indeed, promoting financial education and encouraging actions aimed at its realization are part of the DNA of the CECA sector, which also combines efforts with public agents as part of the National Financial Education Plan of the Bank of Spain and the CNMV, to create a coordinated and effective roadmap in matters of financial culture for the population. The numbers speak for themselves: during the challenging years of 2020-2021, the entities associated with CECA, the main investor in financial education in Spain, allocated 4.298 million euros to promote, boost, and enhance financial education. Of the total investment, 3.025 million euros come from the Funcas Educa Program, promoted by CECA and Funcas for the fourth consecutive year. With this investment, 7,918 activities were carried out. Over the last four years, these entities have allocated a total of 13.07 million euros to promote financial culture, largely thanks to the impetus of the Funcas Educa Program, which, with a budget of 10.97 million euros, consolidates itself as the largest investment in financial education in Spain. We must not forget that financial education is a key competence, and digital skills are an essential tool today for all groups, especially for the most vulnerable.