FROB Annual Report

• FROB ccontinues its work on the resolution of financial institutions through, among other means, simulations and testing of institutions’ capabilities, in close coordination with other national and international resolution authorities and while closely monitoring developments in the Spanish and European banking sectors.
• It also continues to monitor and manage its investee entities, as well as the legal proceedings arising from previous restructuring and resolution processes involving credit institutions.

Madrid, 22 July 2025.

Today FROB has published its Annual Report setting out the main milestones in its activity during the past year, which marked the fifteenth anniversary of its establishment and leads into the commemoration in 2025 of the tenth anniversary of the creation of the European Single Resolution Mechanism. In his institutional message, Álvaro López Barceló, Chairman of FROB, emphasised that: “The Banking Union, resolution, and the crisis management framework are essential for stability and financial integration and, ultimately, for competitiveness and economic growth, at this crucial moment for the European Union. Therefore, if we want to improve competitiveness and promote investment, it is necessary to continue strengthening and completing the Banking Union, with its three pillars fully deployed and functioning effectively.”

Over the past year, FROB has continued to strengthen its exercise of resolution powers, ensuring an appropriate response in the event of crisis, while managing its investee entities.

Activity within the European Resolution Framework

FROB has continued to exercise its responsibilities in relation to the resolution of financial institutions, in close collaboration with the Single Resolution Board (SRB) at the European level, and with the Bank of Spain and the CNMV in their respective preventive roles at the national level.

To achieve the most efficient management of resolution processes, FROB has worked intensively to improve its preparedness and that of financial institutions, including through bank crisis simulation exercises, review and improvement of crisis management procedures, study of legal aspects relevant to the sale of entities or assets, definition of the general framework for the role of special administrators, analysis and development of alternatives within the contracting framework to ensure that FROB can exercise its powers in the event of a crisis, and dissemination of best practices in financial resolution.

As the Chairman of FROB has noted: “We are moving towards greater readiness of the authorities themselves for the management of these episodes: from planning activities towards the operationalisation of resolution tools and the conduct of banking crisis simulations and resolution exercises”.

In addition, FROB has continued to represent Spain in the meetings, policy design, and decisions of the SRB at the European level, and to participate in other international forums on bank resolution, in particular the European Banking Authority (EBA) and the Financial Stability Board (FSB).

Activities linked to previous banking restructurings

In this area, FROB has focused, as usual, on monitoring its stakes in CaixaBank (through BFA) and in Sareb; on legal proceedings linked to previous restructuring and resolution processes involving credit institutions; and on the definitive closure and settlement of the last guarantees granted in the sale or integration of institutions.

Thanks to BFA’s results, FROB received in 2024 the first dividends from this investee, in turn linked to CaixaBank’s positive performance. As of the date of publication of this report, the dividends distributed by BFA to FROB against the results of 2023 and 2024 amount to a total of 1,000,000 thousand euros.

As for Sareb, during 2024 it continued to combine the divestment of its real estate and financial assets with the application of the company’s principle of sustainability and social utility, including preparatory work so that Sareb, in coordination with the competent ministerial departments, may collaborate with the new public housing company by contributing part of its assets for use in affordable and social rental schemes.

To ensure efficient management of restructuring and resolution processes, FROB worked, among other actions, on the closure of the guarantees granted in the sale or integration of institutions. This final closure and settlement took place in 2024. The total cost for FROB of the guarantees granted and paid over recent years amounts to 2,055,000 thousand euros, well below the 11,000,000 thousand euros initially guaranteed.

Finally, FROB continues its work in pursuing and penalising suspected irregular conduct detected within the credit institutions that received public aid. FROB remains party to various proceedings at different stages of progress. Amounts already recognised in FROB’s favour by final court judgment total 303,000 thousand euros.