PANews reported on March 12 that according to Cryptonews, citing Spanish media El Español, Spanish banking giants CaixaBank, Kutxabank and Renta 4 will follow BBVA into the cryptocurrency field and plan to start providing crypto-asset-related services to customers. The media wrote that since the EU's MiCA regulations came into effect at the end of last year, many traditional banking companies are paying attention to the cryptocurrency market, and MiCA "opens the door for banks to start providing cryptocurrency custody and sales services." However, several other major Spanish banks, including Bankinter, Sabadell, Unicaja and MyInvestor, said they were "not developing" cryptocurrency-related services. Meanwhile, Santander and its subsidiary Openbank "refused to comment" on their own cryptocurrency plans.
Spokespeople for CaixaBank and Kutxabank said they are still "developing" plans to offer cryptocurrency trading. But the spokesperson confirmed that the two banks have not yet submitted CNMV applications. Meanwhile, Kutxabank said it hopes to offer customers the option of cryptocurrency custody, purchase and sale. It confirmed that it is already "processing" its CNMV application. It is reported that CaixaBank is the third largest bank in Spain.
