HAVANA: Banco Popular has requested the opening of a representative office in Cuba to join other Spanish banks already operating in the island as BBVA, CaixaBank, Bankia and Sabadell.
The business daily Cinco Dias reported that a director of this entity -fifth Spanish banking group in terms of business- declared that “we must be in Cuba. Now is the time”, in relation to international growth plan that this bank, chaired by Ángel Ron, carried out from 2013 and which is implementing a” prudent “geographical diversification which aims to collect up to 30% of its profit from the international activity.
According to figures from the corporation, Banco Popular currently has more than 8 million customers and 16,500 employees in a network of over 2,220 branches in Spain and 200 abroad.
Of the 252 Spanish companies with a presence on the island according to the Institute for Foreign Trade of Spain, banks still represent a minority. Of these, Bankia is one that has a greater presence in Cuba with a bank holdings of government of the country. It owns 60% of IFC and the remaining 40% is held by the Government.
With the possible arrival of a new bank, Spain continues to strengthen its interest in Cuba, which also has two important lines of credit created in recent weeks. One of the Insurance Company of Export Credit (Cesce by its Spanish acronym) which offers loans worth 24 million euros for Spanish companies wishing to invest.
