Spanish banks \u201cdeserve a medal for the speed with which they have reached their customers with financial support when they needed it most,\u201d stated our president, Jos\u00e9 Mar\u00eda Rold\u00e1n, referring to the state-guaranteed financing program and the moratoriums applied to help families and businesses during the health crisis.<\/p>\n
During his speech at the XXVII Financial Sector Meeting organized by Deloitte, ABC, and Sociedad de Tasaci\u00f3n, Rold\u00e1n specified that AEB member entities have accepted 94% of mortgage moratorium requests and have granted more than 800,000 voluntary moratoriums.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is practically all of the applications,\u201d emphasized Rold\u00e1n, who reaffirmed the sector’s commitment to maintaining its support for the Spanish business community to mitigate the economic effects of the health crisis and pave the way for recovery. In his view, \u201cit is necessary to maintain support for solvent companies, even if this means mistakenly maintaining some non-viable or zombie companies.\u201d <\/p>\n
Spanish banks, he maintained, respond quickly to crises: \u201cWhen there is pressure on profitability, action begins: three mergers, a spin-off, digitalization plans. You never get bored here. We should feel proud of Spanish banking.\u201d<\/p>\n
Regarding the European Next Generation aid program, he said that \u201cwe must make the most of European funds to transform the Spanish economy, and banking has a major role to play there due to its efficiency and capacity to reach SMEs, where wealth creation resides.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the other hand, the president of the AEB considered that this crisis could lead to a significant revision of banking regulations, \u201ca Basel V,\u201d which would regulate the financial activity of technological operators according to the concept of ‘same activity, same regulation and supervision’.<\/p>\n