CECA, a valuable asset for the banking industry

To represent, defend, and disseminate the interests of its members, providing them with advice and support to promote financial inclusion and access to credit. This is how CECA is defined, an organization where the commitment to social responsibility is a core element for the nine banking entities that currently make it up.

In the Middle Ages, a ceca referred to the place where coins were minted and coined. Several centuries later, that same word is used to name an association, CECA, which represents different credit institutions and banking foundations that together employ nearly 70,000 people and have assets approaching 900 billion euros.

The primary mission of CECA is to defend the interests of its members by providing them with advice and support in their aim to offer services that promote financial inclusion and access to credit. To achieve this, the key focus guiding its initiatives is sustainability, actively fostering social work and action as well as financial education.

CECA is an active member of two of the main international associations in the retail banking model: the European Savings Banks Group (ESBG) and the World Savings Banks Institute (WSBI). In fact, it fully identifies with the philosophy of the latter, based on the promotion of the 3Rs: Retail, for financing families and SMEs; Responsible, which means the active defense of social work; and Rooted, meaning committed to the territories where it operates.

An active institutional role

One can gauge CECA’s importance within the financial system by noting some of the names on its governing body. Isidre Fainé, the former head of Caixabank until 2016 and current president of Criteria Caixa and Fundación Bancaria La Caixa, is the president of the association. Among the vice presidents, well-known names such as José Ignacio Gorigolzarri, president of CaixaBank and BFA Tenedora de Acciones; Braulio Medel, former president of Unicaja Banco; and Gregorio Villalabeitia, president of Kutxabank, are identified.

CECA plays a very active role through various institutional representation forums with the Bank of Spain, the CNMV, the Tax Agency, Social Security, SEPE, the Official Credit Institute, the General Council of the Judiciary, and various ministries. At the sector level, it is present in entities such as the Economic and Social Council and CEOE, as well as in other groupings of the financial industry such as AEB and UNACC.

Four fundamental pillars

CECA’s activity is based on four pillars: institutional representation, monitoring and analysis of both the economy and the regulatory changes affecting it, the dissemination and promotion of social investment, and the defense of its members linked by the sectoral collective agreement. With this strategic framework in mind, CECA carries out, among other initiatives, a huge amount of document production. For example, it publishes the Economic and Financial Report monthly, which includes an analysis of the economic situation and markets, as well as monitoring the business variables of deposit institutions. This document is complemented quarterly with the Sector Results Report, which details the evolution of the aggregate income statement of the adhering entities. Monographic analyses, as well as statistics of the financial sector or flashes that compile accounting information, are also published.