Financial Sector & Digitalization
The Financial and Digitization Area monitors the situation of the financial system, with special attention to the banking sector and groups of savings banks, and its digital transformation.
In this area, research of international diffusion in the financial system is carried out, developed by the researchers that form it and also through collaborations of the same with other world-renowned researchers. Among the topics that are most developed are financial and banking regulation and its effects, the competitive structure of the banking sector, the means of payment for business financing and the role of finance in economic growth.
The digital transformation of the Spanish financial system is analyzed through the Observatorio de la Digitalización Financiera (ODF). The objective of this Observatory is to generate, accumulate and disseminate information on the progress of the digital transformation in the Spanish financial system.
Highlighted
Artículo
The dollar′s uncertain hegemony: Headed towards a new equilibrium?
Fecha:
June 2026
The dollar has lost more than 11% of its effective exchange rate value since early 2025, defying the appreciation that would normally accompany higher tariffs. The evolution reflects not just policy uncertainty but a deeper recalibration of the dollar′s role as the anchor of the international financial system.
Artículo
Private credit and the relocation of risk in modern finance
Fecha:
June 2026
Private credit has expanded rapidly into segments vacated by banks, emerging as a central pillar of corporate financing within the non-bank ecosystem. Its continued growth, alongside persistent linkages to the banking system, is reshaping the distribution of risk and raising questions about how losses would be absorbed under stress.
Artículo
Geopolitics and the internationalization of Spanish Banking: Risk and diversification
Fecha:
June 2026
Rising geopolitical tensions are increasingly shaping bank valuations, financial conditions, and risk perceptions in global markets. Spanish banks’ high degree of internationalization offers a partial buffer, with geographic diversification helping to stabilize earnings and mitigate exposure to localized shocks.