CECA and CEOE agree to finance the competitiveness of Spanish companies and SMEs with 45 billion euros

Both institutions sign, for the first time, this agreement to enhance entrepreneurship, innovation, and internationalization of Spanish companies

The entities affiliated with CECA will grant loans under special conditions through their more than 11,000 branches across the country

CECA and CEOE have signed a collaboration agreement today to finance Spanish companies worth 45 billion euros through a range of services and financial solutions under preferential conditions. The objective is to contribute to the creation and growth of companies, with particular attention to the financing of innovation, entrepreneurship, and internationalization.

One of the main focuses of the agreement is to assist the internationalization of Spanish businesses. In this regard, the agreement includes a series of specific financial products and services to help companies overcome the most common barriers they face when starting their activities outside of Spain. These services are related to international payment and collection methods, financing of exports and imports, opening accounts abroad, or providing support in international markets through branches and representative offices, among others.

The agreement signed today is framed within a complex economic context where it is essential to support the productive fabric to increase the competitiveness of Spanish companies. For this reason, both organizations consider it essential to carry out joint actions for business and financial stimulation that benefit society as a whole.

To access these special financing conditions, interested companies must be members of CEOE. Each financial entity will subsequently evaluate each application independently, analyzing factors such as the economic sector in which the activity will be developed, the solvency, or the repayment period of the project.

Extensive reach to cover the entire territory

All interested companies can consult the requirements for accessing these lines of credit on the website pages of the entities as well as in the branches. The banks and savings banks associated with CECA have a network of over 11,000 offices in Spain, which offers enormous reach and facilitates access from any point in the country.

The entities associated with CECA will make available to companies affiliated with CEOE a Specialized Attention Line to resolve any questions about the Agreement or request information about the scope of the financing product offerings from the Entities. In this way, the initiative promoted by CECA and CEOE offers a comprehensive set of services.

Isidro Fainé, president of CECA, highlighted that “this is a major agreement with an impact on the whole of society. Two key organizations within the economic and business fabric in Spain are joining efforts to stimulate the growth and internationalization of companies throughout the country. It is these types of alliances that make us decisively stronger and more competitive beyond our borders. Only in 2018, the CECA sector granted more than 177 billion euros in loans, generating a dynamic economic impact of 87.547 billion euros. The collaboration announced today allows us to provide a decisive boost to CECA’s commitment to economic growth and to entrepreneurs.”

For his part, Antonio Garamendi, president of CEOE, stated that “it is always important to implement channels and tools that assist in financing companies, especially in the processes of internationalization, even more so in the current economic context and in a scenario of irreversible globalization.

Let us remember that in recent years, the presence of Spanish companies abroad has increased, going from 50,000 to nearly 200,000 exporting companies.”

This is a pioneering initiative, as it is the first time an agreement of this type has been promoted at the sectoral level. CECA and CEOE have also agreed to form a Joint Monitoring Commission that will meet periodically throughout the duration of the agreement.