Spain Retail Banking: Competitor Benchmarking 2024

Spain Retail Banking: Competitor Benchmarking 2024

Summary

The Spanish retail banking market remains concentrated, with BBVA and CaixaBank emerging as the dominant players. Penetration by digital challengers is relatively low compared with other European markets such as the UK and Germany, suggesting there will be growth in the number of market entrants in the near future. Reductions in cost-to-income ratios across the market suggest a focus on efficiency during a period of inflationary pressures and geopolitical uncertainty, highlighting banks’ strategies for stability in the face of economic shocks. Spanish consumers value innovative digital offerings including automated saving and budgeting tools, increasing the pressure for banks to invest in new online products to meet evolving consumer expectations.

This report benchmarks the largest retail banks in Spain across a range of financial and customer satisfaction metrics. The report analyzes gains/losses in market share, depth of customer relationships, consumer pain points, and key metrics including Net Promoter Score, cross-selling, and digital satisfaction.

Scope

• Mergers and acquisitions such as Unicaja banco’s takeover of Liberbank and CaixaBank’s takeover of Bankia have driven increases in market concentration, reducing the number of incumbents and increasing the market shares of large players. This trend may continue in 2025 with BBVA’s proposed takeover of Banco Sabadell.
• All bank’s net interest incomes increased over the five-year period from 2018-23, likely due to the impact of high interest rates as a result of inflationary pressures in the early 2020s. Though this is a boon to banks, they must continue to focus on generating income from sources other than interest and fees.
• The cross-selling rate in the Spanish market is high, with an average product uptake of 78%. This suggests that banks and consumers have deep relationships, reflected in the high average tenure of consumers.

Reasons to Buy

• Develop an understanding of the composition of the Spanish retail banking market.
• Learn which banks are succeeding and which are failing across various metrics, ranging from profitability to Net Promoter Score.
• Identify the actionable steps that need to be taken by Spanish banks to address their biggest shortcomings and capitalize on their advantages.