Foreign Banks

There are foreign banks that operate in Spain, although they tend to be concentrated mainly in coastal resort areas and in the large cities. British banking is represented by Barclays, the Royal Bank of Scotland (affiliated to the Santander bank) and Solbank, owned by Banco Sabadel. The American banks, Citibank and Chase Manhattan, are also present. Other foreign banks include Deutsch Bank (which has an agreement with the Spanish Post Office) and several Arab and Scandinavian banks.
Savings Banks
Savings banks (known as cajas de ahorro) are very common in Spain and apart from the Catalan La Caixa and Caja Madrid that are both present in most of the country, tend to be regional or provincial. Savings banks also act as charitable institutions and invest part of their profits in social and cultural associations. In Andalucia the main savings banks are Caja Rural, Caja Mar, Caja Sur and UniCaja (originally from Malaga province), La General (from Granada), Caja San Fernando (from Cadiz) and El Monte (from Seville and Cordoba). Savings banks, although popular, are considerably less so than the clearing banks.
Internet Banking
Internet banking has taken off in a big way over recent years in Spain and more and more Spaniards are now using online services. Practically all banks offer Internet services and as long as you have a user name and password you can carry out most banking transactions online. Some banks even offer online credit facilities. Internet-only banks operating in Spain include ING (part of the Nationale Nederlande group), Patagon (linked to the BSCH group) and EvolveBank (a subsidiary of Lloyds/ Chase Manhattan). Most Internet banks offer preferential rates of interest for savings.