The president of the Spanish Banking Association (AEB) believes that the lack of financial knowledge is a problem for society and argues that “the more we know about how to manage our finances, the less manipulable we are”.<\/p>\n\n
Alejandra Kindel\u00e1n wants the feelings of the street to reach the heights of Torre Emperador, the skyscraper that houses the headquarters of the Spanish Banking Association (AEB).<\/p>\n\n
The real economy and banks, connected in a turbulent environment galloping with geopolitical uncertainty, artificial intelligence and an unprecedented speed of change.<\/p>\n\n
When he took the reins of the AEB in 2022, he made it his mission to change the public’s perception of banking. Not of his bank, but also of the sector. <\/p>\n\n
Today, newly re-elected for another four years, she has an extra opportunity: Europe needs change, and Kindel\u00e1n believes that banking can help businesses and families in that transition.<\/p>\n\n
“Europe must be prepared for volatility and assume its role in the world. It has been 20 years without growth and, without growth, there is no economic or social progress and we will not be able to face the transformations we need to be competitive”, assures the president of the AEB, in an interview with Art\u00edculo14.<\/p>\n\n
Support for the economy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n “Banking is the main source of financing for European companies: it covers 75% of investment needs.”<\/p>\n\n It is ready “to support the necessary investments in infrastructure, technology, defense,” the \u20ac1.2 trillion roadmap laid out by Mario Draghi, former president of the European Central Bank (ECB), in 2024.<\/p>\n\n Just like the Spanish banks: “They are in a good position, all the ratios say so, to support the real economy”.<\/p>\n\n In 2025, the six large banks – Banco Santander, BBVA, CaixaBank, Banco Sabadell, Bankinter and Unicaja – earned 34 billion euros, 7% more than the previous year.<\/p>\n\n This year, its profit will grow by 10%, despite assuming an “unfair” levy, but that could decline in 2026 due to lack of parliamentary support: “We are working to make it happen”.<\/p>\n\n Simplifying regulation: the request to Brussels<\/strong><\/p>\n\n However, for banks to support Europe, changes are needed.<\/p>\n\n On the one hand, regulatory simplification. “We have a framework that was created after the great financial crisis to reduce the likelihood of something similar happening again and eliminate the cost to the taxpayer,” explains Kindel\u00e1n, the fifth president of the AEB and the first woman in the position. <\/p>\n\n “In many, many areas, a lot of regulation has been created and that was surely what we needed, but now the time is different,” he says. “We have shown resilience in circumstances like Covid or the war in Ukraine. Now we have to adapt the framework looking to the future.” <\/p>\n\n In the last four years alone, 1,755 regulations have been approved. “They are layers of regulation that sometimes overlap in that they are aimed at the same risk,” notes the CEOE vice president. <\/p>\n\n An advocate of “good regulation gives confidence to investors and clients”, Kindel\u00e1n is committed to “reducing overlaps and the rate of growth of capital requirements for banks, as this will allow us to lend more and provide a better service to the real economy”.<\/p>\n\n And he calls for speed: “Let’s move forward and act on those aspects where there is some consensus, such as capital buffers”.<\/p>\n\n On the other hand, there is the integration of the single market with the challenge of moving towards banking union, which has been politically blocked in negotiations for years, and the union of savings and investment.<\/p>\n\n “We are missing the single deposit guarantee fund, which is essential for all European citizens to have the same level of coverage and to assess banks on the basis of their strength and solvency, not their nationality, so that they can gain scale in Europe and compete on a level playing field with the Americans as well,” he stresses.<\/p>\n\n Bizum, the Spanish system that scales to Europe<\/strong><\/p>\n\n hile calling on Brussels for “political courage” to promote urgent change, Kindel\u00e1n identifies a great opportunity in the Old Continent: Bizum.<\/p>\n\n The instant payment solution, an innovation in the style of Uber or Airbnb that emerged in 2016 from the alliance of Spanish banks, has 31 million users. More than 95% of young people between 18 and 35 use it. <\/p>\n\n Now, the goal is to scale it to Europe without changing usage habits, extend its footprint in online commerce and make the leap to physical stores.<\/p>\n\n This is the timetable: “Right now, interoperability in direct payments is real with three countries and by the end of the year there will be 13. In Spain, from May, we will be able to use Bizum to pay in physical merchants and, in 2027, in other countries”.<\/p>\n\n European autonomy<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Kindel\u00e1n stresses that “Bizum is a recognized success in Europe, where Spain is seen as a benchmark in payment solutions” and trusts in its development to reduce dependence on Visa and Mastercard, which account for 69% of payments in physical merchants, according to the ECB.<\/p>\n\n The executive, who was born in Caracas in 1971, concedes that “the European payments ecosystem relies heavily on card schemes that are not necessarily European”.<\/p>\n\n It justifies that Europe “should move forward with its own means and its own capacity to innovate” and that citizens should have more alternatives, including the digital euro, which will not arrive before 2029.<\/p>\n\n “We think it is a good option; it is a very important project for the European Central Bank and our entities are also collaborating in the design,” says the president of the AEB.<\/p>\n\n However, his bet is clear: “We must prioritize private payment solutions because this is where innovation takes place very quickly”.<\/p>\n\n What banks use artificial intelligence for<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Alejandra Kindel\u00e1n, an economist and political scientist by training, is not worried about big technology companies, such as Apple or Google, putting the payments business on their radar. Nor is she worried that banks are facing neobanks such as Revolut. <\/p>\n\n “We like competition; we are a very innovative, very competitive industry,” he says.<\/p>\n\n “Spain is the cheapest in Europe; it has the lowest cost of financing for both housing and SMEs, with a difference of almost one percentage point and 65 basis points, respectively, in relation to the European average,” he adds.<\/p>\n\n Kindel\u00e1n, who worked as a consultant for the World Bank at the beginning of her career, also highlights that Spanish institutions are a step ahead of their European counterparts in the application of artificial intelligence (AI).<\/p>\n\n “Ninety-five percent already use it. Mainly in three areas: to gain efficiency in processes, to prevent fraud and to improve customer service. <\/p>\n\n On the possibility of AI triggering employment adjustments, as is already being perceived in other sectors such as technology or consulting, he says that, “for now, we only see huge opportunities.”<\/p>\n\n By contrast, he recalls, employment grew in 2025 for the fourth consecutive year in the 62 banks that make up the AEB, including Santander, BBVA, Sabadell, Bankinter and Deutsche Bank.<\/p>\n\n And he alludes to the “social mission” of the sector as a key to “remain attractive and attract the best talent”.<\/p>\n\n Financial education in the classroom and in the family<\/strong><\/p>\n\n In recent years, following the forced digitization brought about by the pandemic and the impact the change has had on the elderly, banking has picked up the gauntlet.<\/p>\n\n He has taken note of the wake-up call, says Kindel\u00e1n, who recalls that 99.3% of the Spanish population has a physical point of contact with their bank in their municipality:<\/p>\n\n “We have 83,000 physical points of contact; there is no other sector, public or private, with such capillarity.”<\/p>\n\n In addition to rural Spain, financial education is another priority.<\/p>\n\n “In Spain, the starting point is very improvable and the best way to make decisive progress is to make some hours of financial education mandatory in the schooling of our young people.”<\/p>\n\n Kindel\u00e1n, who joined Banco Central Hispano -later merged with Santander- in 1994 and worked at Santander until 2022, is emphatic.<\/p>\n\n “A few hours at certain times will help them fix very basic concepts such as saving, budgeting or the importance of diversifying,” he cites.<\/p>\n\n Depending on the route chosen, a young person may graduate from university or finish his or her professional training without mastering certain economic-financial concepts.<\/p>\n\n “It’s a problem for society and improving it is the best way to protect people. The more we know about how to manage our finances, the less manipulable we are,” he stresses. <\/p>\n\n Your prescription? Personal finance in schools and money talks at home. <\/p>\n\n “You have to prepare young people for digitalization, to have skills and be good people, but also to understand what to do with their savings and how to manage a financial problem.”<\/p>\n\n Interview by Yovanna Blanco and Itziar Elizalde<\/strong><\/p>\n\n Photographs by Jorge Herrera <\/strong><\/p>\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The president of the Spanish Banking Association (AEB) believes that the lack of financial knowledge is a problem for society and argues that “the more we know about how to manage our finances, the less manipulable we are”. Alejandra Kindel\u00e1n wants the feelings of the street to reach the heights of Torre Emperador, the skyscraper […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":40150,"parent":0,"template":"","etiquetas":[],"class_list":["post-40145","entrevistas","type-entrevistas","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"yoast_head":"\n