The European Central Bank tightens the minimum capital requirements for CaixaBank and Unicaja from January 2027. The reason is the increase in the countercyclical buffer in Spain, decided by the Bank of Spain.
According to information published by business-people.es, the European Central Bank (ECB) has raised the minimum capital requirements that CaixaBank and Unicaja must meet starting from January 1, 2027. The adjustment responds to the increase in the countercyclical capital buffer applied to credit exposures in Spain.
The new requirements are set within the framework of the Supervisory Review and Evaluation Process (SREP), through which the ECB determines the capital that entities under its supervision must hold. The figures communicated correspond to the consolidated levels of both banks. Both entities maintain solvency levels above the minimums.
The change originates from the decision of the Bank of Spain to raise the countercyclical buffer from 0.5% to 1% effective October 1, 2026. The measure aims to ensure that banks have additional capital to absorb potential losses.
In the case of CaixaBank, the minimum CET1 capital ratio increases from 9.12% to 9.47%, and the total capital ratio rises from 13.38% to 13.74%. According to the entity's communication to the National Securities Market Commission (CNMV), the Pillar 2 requirement remains at 1.75%, of which at least 0.98% must be covered with CET1. CaixaBank estimates that the additional buffer will have an impact of 35 basis points on its requirements, a figure that will depend on the geographical distribution of its exposures. At the end of the first half of 2026, its CET1 ratio was 12.53%.
Unicaja must meet a minimum CET1 ratio of 9.07% and a total capital ratio of 13.40%, according to the information sent to the CNMV. Its Pillar 2 requirement decreases by ten basis points to 1.90%. At the end of the second quarter of 2026, its CET1 ratio stood at 15.8%. The entity states that it maintains a margin of over six percentage points above the required levels, so the new requirements do not limit dividend distribution or variable remuneration.
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