The beginning: 1977
The Spanish Banking Association (AEB) was founded in 1977 following the approval of the law regulating the right to form trade union associations. Originally, it was called the Spanish Private Banking Association, as the state-owned banks (Banco Hipotecario, Banco de Crédito Industrial, Banco de Crédito Local), which had their own legal framework, were not part of it. After the merger of the public banks and Banco Exterior de España into Argentaria and its subsequent privatisation, the Association adopted its current name.
The first challenge in establishing the Association was to define its structure and draft its bylaws, which were vital to ensuring its success. The aim was to make joining AEB attractive to all banks, taking into account the actual structure of the banking sector, since alongside the so-called seven major banks there were a number of medium-sized and small banks for which joining the Association needed to be of interest.
For this reason, three groups of banks were created within AEB—large, medium-sized and small—with voting rights regulated so that, to adopt agreements, the seven major banks needed the votes of some medium-sized and small banks. This structure was decisive in ensuring that all Spanish banks joined AEB, as well as foreign banks, for which a new group was created when they were granted access to the Spanish market.
At the same time as AEB and other sectoral employers’ associations were created, the Spanish Confederation of Business Organisations (CEOE) was established, through which Spanish business responded to the need for strong overall representation, with an appropriate structure and funding. Through AEB, the banking sector initially assumed a significant role in its organisation and financing.
The first president
AEB initially relied on the resources and staff of the former sector trade union organisation, but it soon developed a much stronger structure, with an executive president, a position to which Rafael Termes was appointed.
The then CEO of one of the major banks took up the position at AEB on an exclusive basis, determined to maintain close contact with the realities of banking. This approach also led to the appointment of a Secretary General from the banking sector, responsible for managing AEB’s day-to-day operations and labour matters, including collective bargaining, which the Association assumed immediately. Meanwhile, responsibility for AEB’s legal advice was entrusted part-time to the secretary general of a medium-sized bank.
Governing bodies were also established (the General Council and the Executive Committee), in which the chief executives of the member banks participated, meeting very frequently.
Coexistence with the Higher Banking Council
The functions assumed by AEB were strongly shaped by the existence of the Higher Banking Council (CSB). This body, created in 1946 and of which all banks operating in Spain were required to be members, had been performing—given the legal impossibility until 1977 of having a genuine employers’ association—many of the functions corresponding to representative sector bodies. Among others, it was tasked with submitting to the relevant ministries the requests, reports and motions of private banking relating to matters of a general nature, and with reporting on banking matters, especially reforms to banking legislation.
To this end, the Higher Banking Council had an efficient organisation with the participation of bank representatives in the various legal and technical committees within it, and it also had its own funding, so it was considered unnecessary to duplicate that organisational and cost structure within AEB.
There was also very satisfactory cooperation between AEB and the Higher Banking Council, as evidenced by their joint work on legislative reforms of interest to the sector.
All of this meant that, in this initial stage, AEB had a lean structure, since only a Tax Committee was created—an area not covered by the CSB—and two advisory units, labour and economic, which were added to the legal advisory function.
The crisis and the Rumasa case: 1978-1983
The start of AEB’s activities coincided with the onset of the deep banking crisis from 1978 to 1983. During this period, numerous banks disappeared and the structure of the Deposit Guarantee Fund was modified, granting it legal personality and assigning it responsibility for the management, disposal and, where appropriate, liquidation of banks in crisis, as a more effective and economical solution than merely insuring guaranteed deposits.
The crisis made it necessary for banking experts to be present in the governing bodies of institutions with serious viability problems, so AEB became the Administration’s interlocutor throughout the process. For the Association, the Rumasa crisis was particularly demanding, as it required managing and allocating a large number of institutions. It was within AEB that the allocation of the various banks was coordinated, and AEB assumed the legal defence of all these actions.
Spain’s accession to the EU: 1985
Spain’s accession to the European Union marked another milestone in AEB’s history: its official entry into the European Banking Federation. Although Spain signed the accession treaty in 1985, AEB had already previously been accepted as a member of the European Banking Federation and participated in its governing bodies and the various specialised committees.
Participation in the European Banking Federation is very important to AEB’s activities, since European banking regulation is harmonised and Spanish regulation focuses on transposing European Directives and Regulations. It is in the process of drafting these instruments that the sector’s involvement is most needed.
The abolition of the CSB. The start of a new stage
After Rafael Termes stepped down as President of AEB in 1990 upon retirement, he was succeeded by José Luis Leal.
At the end of the new president’s first term, four years later, the Higher Banking Council was abolished, coinciding with the incorporation into Spanish law of the Second European Banking Directive, and its assets and functions were assigned to AEB.
In 1994, a new phase began in the Association’s history, in which lobbying activity and specific interventions on behalf of the sector were strengthened very significantly through the professional coordination of banks’ interests.
AEB incorporated the technical committees that existed within the CSB in the legal field, payment instruments, standardisation of interbank procedures, and international operations, as well as the Service for Resolving Incidents between Banks (DIRIBAN) and its counterpart with other credit institutions (SERDI).
AEB also assumed responsibility for publishing banks’ balance sheets and profit and loss accounts; and, in a different area, ownership of the University College of Financial Studies (CUNEF), which had been created in 1974 by the Higher Banking Council, affiliated with the Complutense University of Madrid and later to be transformed into a private university.
AEB thus became the sole representative body for private banks at a time when the Spanish banking system was to undergo very profound changes.
Without seeking to detail the many important milestones that have occurred in AEB’s history over these years, it is worth mentioning some of these changes, the role the Association has played in them, and its own internal evolution.
The introduction of the euro and other major changes
Thus, it is worth recalling, for example, the process of introducing the euro, the result of European Monetary Union, which began in the late 1990s and required an enormous organisational and coordination effort from both the public and private sectors.
In this process, banks played a fundamental role, and the Association’s actions had a decisive effect in establishing, through its committees and working groups, the procedures that made possible an undertaking as complex as the currency changeover, both in banking operations and in the physical exchange of coins and banknotes, the cost of which was also borne by the sector itself.
The creation of the TARGET system for large cross-border payments, later joined by an equivalent system for the clearing and settlement of securities, was another significant development in this process.
Preparations for the millennium change, the so-called Y2K effect, were also very important; it ultimately unfolded without the problems that had been anticipated thanks to the actions taken by the various sectors, among which the banking sector stood out.
In the field of payment instruments, AEB has played a very active role in the development of systems such as the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) and instant payments (Bizum), which represent a significant improvement in the tools made available to customers.
The regulatory landscape and the 2007 crisis
Traditionally, AEB has devoted very special attention to the regulatory sphere—that is, the processes for drafting the rules that affect banks in any area of their activity—and has actively participated in the public consultation processes opened for the various draft regulations.
In the Association’s recent history, the regulatory changes affecting banks’ activities are evident in areas as diverse as transparency and customer protection, securities markets, company law and corporate governance, taxation, payment systems, the prevention of money laundering, and accounting standards.
However, the area that has probably required the greatest attention from AEB in recent years has been prudential regulation and supervision which, as a consequence of the financial crisis that began in 2007, has undergone very profound changes. The new regulation on the organisation, supervision and solvency of credit institutions includes innovative and complex procedures and instruments with a deep impact on banks.
For its part, the new framework for the restructuring and resolution of credit institutions, to address potential crisis situations, has also represented a substantial change in the prudential regulation of our sector.
These regulatory initiatives, and the organisations created to make them effective (the Single Supervisory Mechanism and the Single Resolution Mechanism), represent the foundations for the creation of the European Banking Union, which is expected to be completed, as advocated by AEB, with a single Deposit Guarantee Scheme.
In this period of AEB’s history, it should not be forgotten that AEB member banks were able to overcome the crisis not only without any public aid, but also by helping to resolve the situation of other institutions and contributing to a single Deposit Guarantee Fund the resources held by the banks’ fund.
Collective bargaining
Traditionally, a very important place in AEB’s work has been occupied by the negotiation of the Banking Collective Agreement, which represents an element of stability in the labour relations of its members and has been signed in an atmosphere of understanding with the main trade union organisations.
Towards a more international and efficient organisation
In its recent history, the Association’s activity and structure have undergone some significant changes, initiated under the presidencies of Mr José Luis Leal Maldonado (1990-2006) and Mr Miguel Martín Fernández (2006-2014), and further strengthened under the presidencies of Mr José María Roldán Alegre (2014-2022) and the current president, Ms Alejandra Kindelán Oteyza (2022-present). Its bylaws have also been adapted, maintaining a structure of groups of banks within the governing bodies, to align them with the sector’s current reality.
Over recent years, AEB has clearly promoted its international activity through a much more active presence in the European Banking Federation (EBF), as well as in numerous international forums. To make this presence effective, the Association has also adapted its committee structure to coordinate it with that of the Federation, so as to better represent the position of its members. With this same objective, AEB has increased its human resources by bringing in new advisers and strengthening the “public policy” area and directorate, which complement the traditional role of the General Secretariat.
The need to improve the reputation of the banking sector, clearly affected by the crisis, has also led to strengthening communications activity in order to better convey to the media and society the true reality of banks’ actions. In the same vein, the Association is devoting significant effort to financial education programmes and corporate social responsibility activities.
The AEB Foundation, created in 2008 to promote educational, cultural or scientific activities, makes an important contribution to these efforts. The Foundation has also assumed ownership of the University College of Financial Studies (CUNEF), which has been transformed into a private university, CUNEF University, enabling it, since it began operating in 2021, to strengthen its important work in training future executives in the banking and business sectors with new undergraduate and postgraduate degrees.
