Banking in Spain

Information on opening a Spanish bank account - what documents to provide - the credit and debit cards, payment methods cheques and more...

There are two main types of banks in Spain:

• general retail and commercial banks (bancos), including registered foreign banks
• savings banks (cajas de ahorros)

The core banking services offered by both these types of entities are generally the same. One of the main differences is that cajas de ahorros are traditionally confined to specific regions or provinces, although the major ones have branches throughout the country.

Spain has one of the highest ratios of bank branches per capita in Europe; however, not all of these will offer an English-language service.