The Generalitat rectifies and restores the plan for the ICF to have a bank account

The Government will meet next week with the Bank of Spain, which rejected its request in 2022.

The Catalan government is reviving its old plan to allow its official credit institution, the Catalan Institute of Finance (ICF) , to obtain a license to operate as a bank, according to Economy Minister Alícia Romero (PSC) yesterday.

The project began under the presidency of Artur Mas (2010-2016), and despite the lack of progress, his successors in the Generalitat (Catalan government): Carles Puigdemont (2016-2017), Quim Torra (2018-2021), and Pere Aragonès (2021-2024), all of them pro-independence. In 2022, when the Bank of Spain completely rejected the request, the project was finally approved.

At the beginning of the year, in an interview with EXPANSIÓN, the president of the Generalitat and leader of the PSC (Spanish Socialist Workers' Party), Salvador Illa, advocated giving the ICF a greater role, while maintaining its "current structure." This position clashed with the aspirations of the ERC (Republican Workers' Party), whose votes are decisive in both Parliament and Congress.

A few days ago, ERC urged the PSOE to state that the government will support the "necessary steps" taken with the European Commission and the European Central Bank (ECB). This will be established in the Financial Customer Protection Act , which is being processed in Congress with the aim of addressing market "failures," in the words of the Republicans.

However, before going to Europe, the Bank of Spain must first issue a favorable report. For this reason, Romero announced that the Generalitat (Catalan government) will meet with the financial supervisor next week to overcome "small obstacles" and ensure that the ICF becomes a "public bank." He also stated that the matter has already been addressed at the EU level.